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DOCTOR 

CARRINGTON 


BY 

I. C. de VANE 

A 


^ ‘ ILtUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR 


THE 


Mbbcy press 

PUBLISHERS 

114 

FIFTH AVENUE 

XonDon NEW YORK /Bbontrcal 


* 


THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two CoHias Received 

JUL. 15 190' 

Copyright entry 
CtASS ^ XXe. N*. 

I 

COPY B. 


PZ3 



Copyright, 1901, 
by 

THE 

Bbbei2 IPress 




« , ‘ 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Brothers Meet 5 

II. Dodo THE Basuto Chief 15 

III. Mr. Fitzgerald’s Vocabulary 19 

IV. The Disarming Act 24 

V. News from Natal 29 

VI. Through the Desert 32 

VII. Tommie Dodd 36 

VIII. News from Sigerson 42 

IX. Al Fresco Breakfast 49 

X. At the Dance 52 

XI. A Visit to Andy’s Academy 59 

XII. The Pitsho 66 

XIII. Miss Hamilton an Heiress 73 

XIV. A Letter from Doctor Carrington and News of 

THE Boy 79 

XV. The Hunt 85 

XVI. An Encounter in the Desert 98 

XVII. Christmas Guests 103 

XVIII. Tommie Dodd forms a Plan 107 

XIX. The Attack on Mr. P'itzgerald’s House 126 

XX. The End of the War 139 

XXI. Colonel Thornton Hears about His Wife 142 

XXII. Caxton’s Letter 148 

XXIH. News from Glendale 151 

XXIV. The Wedding 160 

XXV. Jammie Bamber 177 

XXVI. Mrs. Blake 195 

XXVII. Macknab in Paris 203 

XXVIII. Doctor Leary 206 

XXIX. The Primroses 210 

XXX. The Death of Carter 215 

XXXI. Geraldine’s Confession 223 

XXXII. Conclusion 232 




THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 


I. Dodo the Chief. 

V Noddie and Dodo. 

3. Miss McGuire Telling a Story. 

*^4. The Boy d’Arcy. 

• 5. Two Negro Children. 

6. A Doe and two Fauns. 

■ 7. Andy Playing the Fiddle. 

8. SiGERSON AND HiS CHARGER. 

' 9. Tommie Dodd Fighting the Natives. 
10. The Donkey. 

" II. The Doctor in the Desert. 

12. The Old Mill. 

13. Jammie Bamber and His Donkey. 

14. The Weaver’s Cottage. 

15. In the Orchard. 

16. The Hall Fireplace. 



.1 








I 





I. C. DE VANE 




BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 


Mrs. 1. C. de Vane has visited many lands and 
thoroughly understands what she writes about. 

She studied art in Naples, Rome, and Munich, and 
is well known in Brooklyn as an art teacher. 

“ Doctor Carrington '' is her first hook. Hozv well 
she has handled her subject will he for her readers to 
find out. 


The Publishers. 


1 
















DOCTOR CARRINGTON. 


CHAPTER I. 

BROTHERS MEET. 

Late one afternoon in early summer two horsemen 
were seen fording the Molopo, a branch of the Orange 
River. The reins were lying loosely on the horses’ 
necks, and the two men appeared to be in earnest con- 
versation. The elder seemed to be impatient of the 
other’s replies and remarked rather testily, “ And after 
all what does the whole thing amount to? Nothing 
definite about the boy has been found out.” 

Only that Conway swears he saw Carter disguised 
as a witch doctor at a Pitsho Letsea, had called, and he 
thinks he knew it, so if Carter is at Letsea’s the boy is 
not far off — that is, if he is alive.” 

Oh, I have not the slightest doubt about his being 
alive and thoroughly enjoying the wild life they are 
now leading.” 

“ Yes, yes, that is just it, and developing the gipsy 
blood in him.”' 

On reaching the bank the elder man abruptly changed 

5 


6 Doctor Carrington. 

the subject to remark on the scenery. The beautiful 
blue mountains with their odd, fantastic forms seemed 
to fascinate him. Turning in his saddle to get a better 
view of those in the far distance, he said they reminded 
him somewhat of the Himalayas, but lacked their ma- 
jestic grandeur. 

The sun was now lowering, the shadows from the 
mountains had begun to lengthen, and it seemed like 
bidding good-by to daylight as they entered the nar- 
row defile in the mountain through which their road 
now lay. However, a brisk canter brought them to the 
open veldt, then all aglow from the rays of the setting 
sun. Across the wide surface came the baying of 
hounds, and at some distance could be seen a man 
on horseback, evidently training them, as he had some 
in leash. 

‘‘ That is your brother Hugh,’" remarked the 
younger man. “ I wonder if he will know you. Any- 
how we will soon see.” 

Raising his hands to his mouth, he sent a view 
halloo ” ringing over the veldt, starting the echoes, 
and bringing back a quick reply from the distant hunts- 
man who started to meet them. 

The two brothers reined up close, and eyed each other 
for a second, then clasped hands, but it was some mo- 
ments before either could control his voice to speak; 
but their memory had been talking through their eyes 
for them, turning over scenes and incidents that hap- 
pened under other skies and other climes. 


Brothers Meet. 


7 


Oblivious of their surroundings, they turned to the 
house, where they had been announced by Will Cas- 
serly and the dogs. Quickly dismounting and throw- 
ing the bridles to the Kaffir grooms, they ascended the 
broad porch hand in hand like two boys, their hearts 
being too full yet for much speech. Casserly said they 
made him feel like a “ demned uncomfortable body/' 
and he was going to find Mrs. Thornton and make 
love to her, and disappeared into the wide hall, where 
he was met by the mistress of the house, who wanted 
to know who the tall stranger was. But before he 
could answer, she was clasped in the arms of the same 
tall stranger, her husband standing by and enjoying 
her surprise. 

Why, Millie, don’t you know me ? ” 

For an answer he got a hug and an “ Oh, Fred! ” 
and Fred returned the hug. His big heart was so 
brim full of affection that he must express it in some 
way, being too shame-faced to kiss his brother. 

Casserly here began to sing, “ No one to love me, 
none to caress," and wanted to know if he found the 
kids could he kiss them if their faces were clean, and 
went off whistling “ La Fille de Madame Angot." 

He found them under the shade of a big baobab 
tree, helping to do the family mangling. The clothes 
are folded in compact flat squares, and covered with 
sheets and a blanket. Then the Basuto men and girls 
dance a regular Kaffir dance on them to the music of 
the tom-tom or drum. Dodo was getting in her part 


8 Doctor Carrington. 

in her usual energetic way, flinging her legs and arms 
around in a bewildering manner. On seeing Casserly, 
she came flying to him and wanted to know what he 
had “ bringed her.’’ 

“ Why, myself, to be sure, and is not that enough ? ” 
and his eyes kept wandering about the court in search 
of something. Pulling himself together, he asked for 
Miss Hamilton. 

Oh, she is gone to Kimberley to be married.” 

“What are you saying? It’s not so.” 

“ It is so. Ask Noddie.” 

“ No, Mr. Casserly, she has gone to see Mr. Ma- 
guire’s sister married to Mr. Warren, of the Kimberley 
diamond mines. I heard mama and papa talking 
about it, and she will not be home for a month.” 

Picking the little girl up in his arms, he cast an- 
other look around the court — taking it all in from the 
granaries on one side to the kitchens and keeping- 
places of the servants on the other, lastly resting his 
eyes on the big well near where some women were 
making preserves, and a Kaffir boy was feeding the fire 
under the big kettle from a pile of crows’ nests. Was 
it a premonition of the dreadful things that were to 
happen there that caused him to look into the well 
whose outlet Mr. Fitzgerald had walled up and covered 
over to where it flowed through some rocks into a pool, 
quite a distance from the house? 

“ Fred, my boy, this is indeed a glad surprise, as we 


Brothers Meet. 


9 

did not expect you for another week,” exclaimed Mr. 
Fitzgerald, as he clasped his nephew’s hand. 

“ Then you must thank your Dutch friend over the 
border for that, uncle.” 

They were a striking looking pair, uncle and nephew, 
as they stood facing each other, and fair specimens of 
their race. Colonel Thornton was a counterpart of 
what his uncle had been at his age, — tall, broad- 
shouldered, and with all the bearing of a soldier, and 
the easy, well-bred manners of a gentleman. 

Mr. Fitzgerald’s hair, beard and mustache were 
bleached to silvery whiteness by twenty-five years of 
South African sun, and his skin blackened and tanned 
by the same. Under his still dark, bushy eyebrows 
sparkled a pair of bright blue eyes — real Irish eyes — 
with a merry twinkle in them. 

The elegance of the well-appointed dining-room and 
the dinner dress of his relatives seemed to impress 
Colonel Thornton. His uncle, noticing it, laughingly 
remarked that he supposed he did not expect to find 
them so civilized, and humorously explained that 
Millie was a queen, and that they were her court, and 
most loyal subjects. 

Yes, uncle, but you were not always so submis- 
sive.” 

That is so, my dear. See what it is to have a dis- 
reputable past, Fred. I fought her innovations at 
first, then she carried me off to Europe to have me 


10 Doctor Carrington. 

re-civilized. When she first came among us she 
thought I was as big a savage as old Moriso.” 

Why, I thought he had been converted long ago ! ” 

‘‘ Oh, yes, but since his christianized wife died he 
has returned to his old ways, and replaced her with as 
big a heathen as there is in South Africa. It was she 
who led the revolt against the missionary when he 
wanted the women to repair the church and threatened 
to give no more blankets if they did not. She told 
him that God might repair His own house, and if no 
more blankets, no more Alleluia.” 

“ What was the latest in Natal, Fred, when you 
left?” 

“ There was nothing talked about but the war, Hugh, 
and the invasion of Zululand, and there seems to be a 
difference of opinion on that, some siding with Bishop 
Colenso, that the war is unjustified and the invasion 
a blunder, that Lord Chelmsford and his advisers will 
soon find out to their loss that their estimate of the 
strength and fighting power of the Zulus was very far 
wrong. What is your opinion, uncle?” 

“ I believe entirely with the Bishop, Fred, that the 
invasion is a blunder, and the Cape Parliament will 
commit a bigger one if they pass the Disarming Act 
for Basutoland. The rifles that the Government is 
so much afraid of are far less dangerous in the hands of 
the natives than the assegai — a terrible weapon, a 
regular two-edged sword — which they use with great 
dexterity, while the rifles with them as yet are only toys, 


Brothers Meet. 


II 


and in an encounter would prove far more fatal to them 
than to their adversaries; besides there is great dis- 
content among some of the tribes who are stirred up 
by the news from Zululand, and emissaries are coming 
in every day from Cetewayo for that purpose. I 
met Lerthodia this morning, and he told me there was 
a witch doctor, a white man, and his son, at Letsea’s 
Kraal, sent by Cetewayo to beg assistance. I thought 
nothing of it at first, as there are many white renegades 
among them, but when he said the doctor spoke of my 
family, it struck me it might be that rascal Carter, and 
I asked Lerthodia when I could have a palaver with 
the doctor. He said he could not tell as he had gone 
with Dodo to Moriso’s, so that ends the matter for 
the present.’’ 

“ Could you not see him there, uncle ? ” 

‘‘Well, no, Fred; I am willing to do a great deal 
for you, my boy, but I don’t feel like going to heaven 
just yet. No white man except this doctor has ever set 
foot on top of that mountain and lived to tell it. 
However, have patience; there is another way.” 

After dinner, when seated on the broad porch enjoy- 
ing their coffee and segars, Mr. Fitzgerald asked the 
Colonel if it was not ripping up an old sore too much 
to tell them something about the boy. 

“ Your aunt wrote me about your marriage, and if I 
remember right it was an unfortunate affair.” 

“ Yes, uncle, most unfortunate. When I was little 
more than a boy, I met her in Vienna. She was a 


12 Doctor Carrington. 

singer of gipsy blood, and bewitchingly beautiful. I 
fell madly in love with her and married her — and had 
soon cause to regret it. She wanted to live on the 
Continent or in London, and I wished to get her away 
from her associates, at least for a while, so we went 
down to Studley. The country was too quiet for her 
and she became irritable and dissatisfied. Aunt Mar- 
jory was all kindness to her, and we thought that after 
the twins were born, she would be more content, but 
no, she hated the very sight of them and when they 
were three months old, she left, taking her maid with 
her. Next day I received a letter from her telling me 
not to try to find her, as she had gone to one she had 
always loved, and doubted if the children were mine.’^ 
Did you ever try to find her? 

“ No, never. I found, though, that the person she 
called her brother was her lover.’' 

And have you never heard anything of her since? ” 
Occasionally I have seen her name in the paper ; 
she took her former name. After receiving her note I 
never saw the children again until about a year ago, 
when I was recalled from India, and then one of them 
was dying. I then saw that she had lied to me about 
them. Why, D’Arcy (I called him for you, uncle) 
is the very picture of Hugh. His poor brother, 
Maurice, was so disfigured by diphtheria, I could see 
no resemblance to any of the family, but I was told they 
v/ere so much alike it was difficult to tell them apart. 
They were very fond of and much attached to each 


Brothers Meet. 


13 


other and were always together, so much so they were 
named the Siamese twins. D’Arcy’s grief was heart- 
rending and he turned to me for comfort and sympathy. 
Poor child, I had not much time to stay with him. 
You know I was ordered out here. My heart aches 
now when I think of how he pleaded and begged of me 
not to leave him, but to take him along with me. Now, 
I wish to God I had granted his request ; but I thought 
it was only childish grief, and that he would soon get 
over it. You can imagine my grief and disappoint- 
ment on learning that after my departure he became 
moody and did not care for study or cricket, or any of 
the games he was so fond of, and spent hours and days 
wandering through their old haunts and always carry- 
ing Maurice’s little dog in his arms. 

Some little time after my leaving England, a man 
came to the school and asked to see the boy, saying that 
he was an orderly in my regiment, and presented a 
letter purporting to come from me, to the effect that 
he was to stay with the boy and try to cheer him up. 
In a short time another letter came from the Cape ask- 
ing him to have the boy sent to me and that Carter 
would take charge of him. In answer to a letter writ- 
ten to the boy on my arrival at Cape Town, that is 
what I heard. At first I thought it was some one from 
his mother, but Casserly soon disabused my mind of 
that by saying who Carter was. Carter is an assumed 
name ; his right name is Murchison. Hugh, you must 
remember old farmer Murchison of Studley? Well, 


14 Doctor Carrington. 

he is his son, and was always a bad egg. He joined 
my regiment shortly before leaving for India, and from 
that day until he was ‘ drummed out ’ of it, he was a 
continual thorn in my side. I condoned many of his 
faults for his father’s sake, but when he attempted to 
commit a most beastly assault on the invalid wife of 
one of the men, he so outraged every human feeling that 
I was going to have him shot.” 

Then I wish to heaven you had.” 

So do I, with all my heart. I had him flogged 
and ‘ drummed out ’ of the regiment. That night he 
tried to assassinate me, and when foiled in the attempt 
he disappeared as from the face of the earth. It 
seems that he brought up here in Africa, first at the 
Cape, then at the diamond fields, and lastly .as a con- 
federate of Cetewayo, the Zulu chief. It appears he has, 
or had, a pal, also a native of Studley, employed in the 
government stores at Cape Town, and through him he 
was kept informed of what was passing at home, and of 
my arrival there, and the death of the boy, by a servant 
at the school — a sister of his confederate. Conway, 
with the help of the native police has ferreted out that 
much.” 


CHAPTER 11. 


DODO THE BASUTO CHIEF. 

I HAVE not seen the children yet, Millie.” 

“ No, we want you all to ourselves this evening.” 

They will come soon enough ( and perhaps he will 
think too soon, if Dodo gets into one of her tantrums). 
Millie, my dear, that child is being spoiled.” 

And who is doing it, uncle? You indulge her 
in every way. I believe if she asked you for the moon 
you would try to get it for her.” 

“ Yes, yes, she is like her namesake in the way of 
asking for whatever takes her fancy.” 

“You don’t mean to say that you have called her 
after Dodo, the notorious chief?” 

“ Well, yes, as a nickname. You see, she has de- 
veloped one or two striking traits of his character, par- 
ticularly in the way of covetousness and in wanting to 
be highcockalorum in everything, and whatever takes 
Dodo Thornton’s fancy, she wants; so likewise does 
Dodo, the chief. To give you an instance: One day, 
some time ago, I was holding court. You know I am 
the resident magistrate.” 

“Have you many troublesome cases, uncle?” 

“Yes, and sometimes quite complicated ones. They 

15 


1 6 Doctor Carrington. 

are a most litigious people and go to law on the small- 
est pretense. The other week I had to call on Hugh 
for a referee. It was a dispute about a marriage set- 
tlement. Their marriage laws are very strict. When 
a betrothal takes place, the father of the prospective 
bridegroom sends as a present an ox to the father of 
the prospective bride. The husband of the bride has 
to provide the wedding blanket, or kaross. This is 
religiously put away until the time of the celebration 
of the marriage. When everything has been prepared 
a messenger is sent to the man that he can come to see 
the girl. This he does at once, and is kindly received 
by the family. They all sit down on the ground, ex- 
cepting the younger members, who stand around in a 
circle. The man is not allowed to talk to the girl at 
all. His courtship consists of exchanging looks only. 
This goes on for some time ; then the man stands up and 
says to the girl : ‘ Eh dumela! ^ and if the girl responds 
‘ Eh dumela ! ' that is all the conversation he can pos- 
sibly expect to have with her. 

“ The bridegroom-elect then takes his departure, to 
return in a day or two. When he enters the kraal of 
his fiancee he looks to see if the kaross, or wedding 
blanket, is displayed, and if so, he remains as the hus- 
band of the girl. After the marriage every ox the 
bride and bridegroom kill for their wedding feast be- 
longs partly to the father of the bride, and so strict 
is this custom that if the rule is neglected the marriage 
is annulled, the offense being considered so great that 


Dodo the Basuto Chief. 


17 


it can be pardoned and wiped out only by a present of 
twenty head of cattle. This, one of Dodo’s Indunas re- 
fused to do, saying that he had not that number of 
cattle. However, Hugh and the chief compromised 
the matter for them, the old man consenting to take 
half the number.” 

“ I invited Dodo and his Indunas into the house to 
have some refreshments. Millie had just received a 
present of a handsome lamp and a pair of candelabra 
from a Portuguese friend of mine. They were stand- 
ing in the hall, where they had been unpacked. Dodo 
was much taken with the lamp, but finding it was fas- 
tened to the table, he gave up all thought of carrying 
it off, and turned his attention to the candelabra. In 
fingering them, he pressed the spring in the head of the 
snake that supports the candles, when out flew the 
fiery red tongue which is the cover of the matchsafe in 
the head. He jumped back as if he had been shot, and 
so frightened was he that all Millie has to do now when 
she hears he is coming, is to place one of them in the 
hall and he will not enter the house.” 

“ I only wish I had had them before he carried off 
my cake basket.” 

“ Why, how was that, Millie? ” 

“ Well, you see, Dodo considers himself of some im- 
portance and expected to be asked to dine every time 
he came here. Afterwards I was always minus many 
articles from the table, in the way of spoons, forks, 
sugar-tongs, in fact everything that would take his 


1 8 Doctor Carrington. 

fancy. One day, unluckily for me, the cake basket was 
left on the sideboard. It caught his eye and up he 
gets and, placing it on his head, turned to admire him- 
self in the glass, and walked off with it.’’ 

‘‘ Yes,” said Hugh, but the best of it was, the next 
time he put in an appearance he was gaily decked out in 
a necklace of spoons, forks, sugar-tongs, and cartridge 
boxes, and perched on top of his head the cake basket, 
shining like ‘ Mambrino’s helmet,’ and Cervantes’ 
‘ Knight of La Mancha ’ could never have worn the 
barber’s basin with more dignity and self-conscious- 





Dodo the Chief. 


Page 1 8 











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CHAPTER III. 


MR. Fitzgerald's vocabulary. 

“ Good morning, Millie. You must think me a 
great laggard." 

“ Not at all, brother Fred. I only hope you rested 
well." 

The first part of the night, no. I suppose the 
pleasure and excitement of renewing our acquaintance, 
and the worry and uncertainty about the boy kept me 
awake for some time, but toward morning I slept like 
a trooper." 

I expect every one is out by this time? " 

Yes, uncle. Casserly and the children have gone 
for a ride, but Hugh is around somewhere. Pattie, 
serve breakfast out here and call Mr. Thornton." 

‘‘ Why, Millie, this is a perfect paradise ! What a 
wealth of flowers! Uncle must surely have spent a 
fortune to make this look so like a scene from the 
Arabian Nights. And those gray, weird, fantastic 
kopjes add to the delusion." 

‘‘ Uncle has certainly shown both taste and judg- 
ment in selecting this place. Yes, it is a lovely spot and 
uncle is much attached to it. Besides, it is the only 
place where he enjoys perfect health." 

19 


20 


Doctor Carrington. 


“ I don’t wonder at that. The air is the finest I 
have ever breathed. Yesterday as we rode up here I 
felt it exhilarating me like draughts of champagne.” 

“ That is what uncle says when he returns from 
Massi Kissr or Cape Town. And that is also why he 
has spent so much time and means to make it seem and 
look European. He tried to model it after some place 
he saw in southern Italy. And after Hugh and I came 
here he spared no expense to make it homelike. I 
have only to express a wish and it is granted; indeed 
many are anticipated. But here comes Hugh.’ 

Good morning, Fred. I see you are enjoying the 
view. Grand, isn’t it? Nothing like it in India, eh? 
Millie, I’ll have a cup of coffee, please. And here’s 
the mail and Miss Hamilton’s photograph. A rip- 
ping good likeness it is too. What do you think of it, 
Fred?” 

I think she must be a very pretty girl, coming quite 
up to Casserly’s praise of her.” 

‘‘ Yes, Will is dead mashed on her. But I am afraid 
it is no go. She does not care a button for him. What 
do you say, Millie ? ” 

“ I say that Geraldine is a very lovely girl, and one 
that will not allow any one to take liberties with her.” 

“ Is she a relative of old Captain Hamilton ? ” 

“ Why, yes ; his granddaughter.” 

“ Then why is she out here as a governess? ” 

“ Oh, I forgot. He disinherited her father, and I 
believe he died out in Australia.” 


Mr. Fitzgerald’s Vocabulary. 21 

But how comes the girl out here ? ” 

“ Millie wanted some one for the children, and uncle 
wrote to Mr. Bradley, an old friend of his, and Captain 
Hamilton’s lawyer. Bradley’s sister, Mrs. Blake, had 
taken charge of the girl after her father’s and mother’s 
death, as the grandfather would not acknowledge her. 
He was always a harsh, arbitrary man, and the most 
profane one I ever heard.” 

“ Wait until you hear uncle. He has a most unique 
vocabulary of Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, 
English, and all the lingoes spoken by every tribe in 
South Africa. He puts a bridle on his tongue though 
before Millie and the children. But sometimes when ex- 
cited he forgets himself. Dodo brought him up with 
a round turn the other day, and as Andy says ‘gave him 
a sight of himself,’ by calling him a ‘ most outwagrous 
wier.’ It was a favorite expression of his, but since 
then it has not crossed his lips. You see uncle had to 
rough it pretty hard when he first came out. Casserly’s 
father and he kept a trading station, and tried ostrich 
farming with indifferent success. Their luck turned, 
however, when diamonds were discovered on their 
farm. Uncle is a pretty clear-headed business man and 
jumped at no conclusions. He at once secured the 
services of a good engineer, an American, who had 
been rather down on his luck, and whom uncle had be- 
friended more than once, and he was grateful. So they 
prospected and speculated in claims, and were success- 
ful beyond their expectations. They also struck luck 


22 Doctor Carrington. 

at the gold fields. Casserly was sent to London to start 
a company, but unfortunately for him began to specu- 
late on ’change and lost thousands of pounds. Fright- 
ened at his losses he took to drinking heavily. Yes, 
and committed suicide. Well, that was supposed so. 

Will was at college at the time, and after he took 
his degree uncle brought him out here. Yes, uncle is 
very fond of him. You see he hasn’t a single blood re- 
lation in the world. But there they come; I hear the 
children’s voices.” 

Here we are, Fred, my boy, the whole clamjamfrey 
of us to welcome you to Grenan Hill. This is Master 
Maurice Fitzgerald Thornton. And this is Miss 
Modwena, otherwise Dodo, Thornton.” Colonel 
Thornton scarcely noticed the little girl. His eyes 
were all for the boy. Reaching out his arms he drew 
him toward him, and brushing back the curls from 
his forehead, gazed earnestly into his face for some 
seconds, and said, Why, he is the born picture of 
D’Arcy.” 

Dodo, quite insulted by being relegated to second 
place, clambered up on Uncle D’Arcy’s knee, and began 
running her fat little fingers through his beard and 
mustache, her usual trick when she wanted to kiss 
him on the mouth. And when Uncle Thornton wanted 
to make friends with her she turned her head and would 
have none of him. With her it was : 

“ He that will not when he may, 

When he would he shall have nay.” 



Noddie and Dodo 


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I 







Mr. Fitzgerald’s Vocabulary. 23 

Miss Dodo was sent to Coventry to do penance for 
her display of bad breeding, and Noddie went to study 
his lesson. 

“ Why didn’t you let the children stay, Millie ? ” 

‘‘ Surely not after Dodo’s rudeness, Fred. And, 
besides, uncle wants to discuss the news. Now we 
never talk before them; they are like a pair of mag- 
pies, particularly Dodo. She picks things up and 
hides them away in her head to bring them out un- 
expectedly, and at times putting us in most embarrass- 
ing positions. For example, with uncle’s Dutch 
friend : you have heard, Fred, how some of the Dutch 
still have the habit of sleeping in their clothes. Well, 
when Millie heard that Mr. Bodavin was coming on 
business and was to stay some days, she hoped that he 
would undress and go to bed like a Christian, and not 
sleep in his clothes like a savage. About the first thing 
Dodo asked him if he was a Christian, ’cause mama 
hoped he was not a savage and slept with his clothes 
on.” 

‘‘ How did he take it ? ” 

“ Oh, very good-naturedly, and it was to his ad- 
vantage, for uncle made concessions that otherwise he 
would not to soothe his supposed wounded feelings.” 


CHAPTER IV. 


THE DISARMING ACT. 

‘‘ What is the news, uncle? ” 

‘‘Just what I expected. Parliament is going to 
enforce the Disarming Act. This is what the Cape 
Mercury says : ‘ No more unfortunate time could have 
been chosen. The whole Basuto nation was opposed 
to it at first, and now that they are stirred up by the 
news of the disaster in Zululand and the terrible mas- 
sacre of our troops there, they are quick to seize their 
opportunity and are taking measures to show their 
disapproval of the Government’s action. Dodo has 
escaped and gone to join Cetewayo, who, it seems, is 
amusing himself by putting his Indunas, victorious 
or otherwise, to death. He is said to be crazed at the 
appearance of his favorite Inlwana regiment when he 
saw it after Isandhlwana, and could not believe that 
what he saw was but the remains of it and he seems 
to be more frightened at his victory than if it had 
been a defeat. 

The Zulus speak highly of the gallant Twenty- 
fourth and say of them, ‘ They fell together in one 
place.’ Their bravery seems to have made a great im- 
pression on them. 

The Basutos have sent a petition to the Queen 

24 


The Disarming Act. 


25 


and the Cape Parliament protesting against disarma- 
ment, which will, of course, delay matters and gain 
time for them. Both chiefs and people are strongly 
opposed to the idea of giving up their arms, and will 
do anything but disarm. Just what I said from the 
first. 

“ A ‘ Pitsho ’ has been ordered by the Government, 
and the chiefs are requested to attend with their In- 
dunas to discuss the disarmament. So, Fred, you will 
have a chance to see Lerthodia and the paramount 
chief, Letsea. Lerthodia is the great soldier of the 
Basutos and a fine specimen of the savage, six feet tall, 
magnificently formed, and a splendid rider.” 

“ What news have you from Miss Hamilton, Mil- 
lie? I hope she is well and soon coming home.” 

‘‘ She expects to return next week, and is bringing 
the sister of the bride for a visit. But I am afraid we 
are going to lose her. She has heard from Mr. 
Bradley that her grandfather is quite sick and has ex- 
pressed a wish to see her, and Mr. Bradley urges her 
to return.” 

“ What is it, Sebastian ? ” 

An express rider with despatches for Colonel 
Thornton, sir.” 

‘AVhere is he?” 

I have shown him into your office, sir.” 

“ Very well, show Colonel Thornton there. I won- 
der wdiat it can be ! I hope he is not ordered to Zulu- 
land, uncle.” 


26 Doctor Carrington. 

“ I think not. It is more than likely he is to take 
command here.” 

‘‘ Then you have been pulling somebody’s leg, uncle 
mine.” 

“ Well, what of that ? It would not be the first time, 
would it? Hugh, I wish you would see that the rider 
has a fresh horse, and tell him to wait for letters from 
me. 

Well, Fred, my boy, how goes it? Hugh wants 
to know if you are going to Zululand? Some other 
time, eh? Well, I expected such.” 

“ Yes, uncle, I am to be stationed here with camp 
at Mafiteng.” 

‘‘ Small favors thankfully received, my boy. Now 
I suppose you have letters to write. And so have I. 
After that, if you are willing, we will go for a ride. 
I will show you some of the country, and a mighty 
fine country it is, too, let me tell you. If we only had 
railways it could develop into one of the finest coun- 
tries in the world. Caxton, our engineer, says that it 
was the railway that developed the western American 
country. I wish to heaven that we had some enter- 
prising company here to do the same for us.” 

‘‘What about the Charter Company?” 

“ Oh, they have tried the reverse and put the cart 
before the horse, to use a familiar simile. 

“ Development first, then railways, and what are 
the consequences? Discouragement, failures, and de- 
sertion. I could have shown you fields of the finest 


27 


The Disarming Act. 

grain left to rot or to be harvested by the natives, if 
they so chose, deserted by the discouraged colonist, 
who packed up his household goods in bullock 
wagons, and with his domestic fowls and animals, 
start to trek to some colonial town. Indeed, it was a 
frequent sight to meet wagons drawn by eight or ten 
yoke of oxen, trekking along, with droves of cows, 
horses, sheep and goats following, some to be eaten 
on the way, others to be disposed of at the towns on 
the way to their destination. 

“ Some few, indeed, have the courage to stick to 
their convictions that things will take a turn for the 
right, and keep pegging away at their farms.” 

“ And what do you think, uncle ? ” 

“ What do I think ? I think and believe there is a 
big future for this country. I may not live to see it, 
but it is sure to come.” 

What about the tribal difficulties and the hostility 
of the natives to the Government ? ” 

“ This is the worst of it, and the Government is to 
blame in the matter. It has allowed the blacks to be 
treated just as the Indians have been treated in the 
United States, as if they had no rights that any white 
man was bound to respect. Their lands were seized, 
their property confiscated, and they driven from their 
homes and treated as though they were wild beasts of 
the forests. I have seen and heard of cases of such 
heartless brutality, that it makes the blood boil in my 
veins even now, when I think of it. However, I sup- 


28 Doctor Carrington. 

pose such things are permitted for some wise pur- 
pose.” 

“ Perhaps to show in the end the survival of the 
fittest.” 

“ Perhaps so. And here comes one of them. Has 
my little Bush maiden come to beg Uncle Fred’s par- 
don ? ” 

Yes, Uncle D’Arc, pease. And to dive him a 
tiss.” 

She was very sweet to look at, the same little Bush 
maiden, in her pretty white frock, golden curls and 
wistful big blue eyes. Children are quick to judge 
character. One glance in her uncle’s face and she was 
soon in his outstretched arms, and her little fat ones 
clasped tight around his neck and her little wet mouth 
dabbed into his face, and with every dab it was, I 
dose love you, I dose love you.” 

Uncle Fred felt something rise in his throat and his 
eyes grow dim as he clasped her tighter to his heart. 
Uncle D’Arcy began to blow his nose and walked to 
the other end of the balcony. 

Dodo at last left off her caressing, and began to 
finger the braid and buttons on her uncle’s uniform, 
and to ask and answer questions. Her uncle wanted 
to know why she was called a Bush maiden. 

’Cause I was horn’d in the bush; papa says it was 
in the sugar bush, ’cause I is so sweet. But I fink 
Nody must have been horn’d in the camelthorn, ’cause 
he is so prickey.” 


CHAPTER V. 


NEWS FROM NATAL. 

“ Don^t you think it strange nothing has been heard 
from Sigerson, uncle ? ” 

Why, no, Fred. You cannot understand what 
slow work it is trekking through a desert with such a 
caravan as he has charge of. There will be days and 
days, perhaps, when they will not see the sight of a 
tree, or bush, or drop of water. Yes, we had a touch 
of that, and I will not soon forget my disappointment 
on reaching some salt pans that in the distance looked 
so refreshing, to find them only stagnant malodorous 
pools.” 

“ You are not the only one who has been deluded in 
that way. South Africa is not a pleasant country to 
travel through.” 

“ Speaking of Sigerson, I wonder if he is the young 
fellow I met at Cape Town some years ago. He had 
a letter of introduction from Mr. Bradley to me, and 
I believe he is some relation to Miss Hamilton. I 
have no doubt but that he is the same person. Sir 
Bartle Frere speaks very highly of him, and has great 
confidence in his skill and judgment.” 

‘‘ Lucky for him he was not ordered to Zululand, 

29 


30 


Doctor Carrington. 


as in all probability he would have been with poor 
Durnford in the massacre.” 

‘‘ I feel sorry for Lord Chelmsford.” 

“ I do not, Fred. He should have listened to the 
advice of those who understood the country, the na- 
tives, and their mode of warfare. But no, they were 
relegated aside for political appointees — men who knew 
nothing of the country and less of miltary tactics, and 
you see the result.” 

“ I do not doubt their bravery. Yet the murder of 
the Prince Imperial appears very much like cowardice, 
their leaving the poor boy alone to defend himself 
against th^ savages, while the officer in command 
skulked behind the deserted kraal. 

“ Yes, that was a most dastardly thing, and all the 
whitewashing in the world cannot wipe it out. 

“ Back already, Hugh, and what is the news ? ” 

“ Nothing, unless you have it in this letter, uncle. 
I took it from the express rider who has just arrived 
with the mail.” 

“ Ah, I see it’s from Wilmort. Let us hear what he 
says, then.” 


Natal. 

Dear Mr. Fitzgerald : I have made the most dili- 
gent inquiries through Hudson in regard to Carter 
(he is well known in the detective bureau). This is 
what he has heard through native spies. Carter is at 
Moriso’s and the boy is with him. He has n^t much 


News From Natal. 


31 


confidence in the spies. He says they ^ lie as fast as a 
dog can trot.’ Nevertheless, he is sure the boy is all 
right and well taken care of, but for you to see Siger- 
son, who must have reached his destination by this 
time. 

He has a Kaffir boy, who is bright beyond his class^ 
and a born detective. Nothing escapes his eyes or ears, 
and what he says can be relied on.” 

“ You see, Fred, there are other ways besides rush- 
ing into the lion’s mouth.” 


CHAPTER VI. 


THROUGH THE DESERT. 

Two wagons drawn by the usual number of oxen 
were dragging their weary way over the burning sand 
of a South African desert. They had been trekking 
through it for two days, and men and beasts alike were 
exhausted. Now and again the monotony would be 
broken by a date palm or some stunted acacia bushes, 
usually by some deserted ant-hill, into which the men 
would thrust their heads to shield them for a few mo- 
ments from the blazing sun. 

One of a party of Cape mounted police, who were 
accompanying them, and riding a little in front, had 
been scanning the waste of sand for some time with a 
field-glass. Handing it to a companion, he asked him 
to try his luck, as he was almost blinded by the re- 
fraction. Settling himself in his saddle and adjusting 
the glass, he began his search. Some black objects ap- 
peared on the horizon. Pie was not quite sure, know- 
ing what disappointed hopes were. He waited. At 
last he was rewarded by seeing them take definite 
shape. Then the harassing thought arose: was it 
their friends returning, or a scouting party of natives? 
His doubts were soon set at rest by two horsemen gal- 
32 


Through the Desert. 


33 


loping up, and shouting the glad tidings that water was 
near, and pointing to some dark objects in the distance, 
said that they were trees, and that a river was close by. 

The poor brutes, with their tongues lolling out of 
their mouths and their hoofs cracked and blistered by 
the burning sand, were urged forward ; but as soon as 
they scented the water urging was not needed. They 
set off at a mad rush and tumbled pell-mell into the 
river. The drivers and leaders had all they could do 
to unyoke the oxen, otherwise they would have dragged 
the wagons down also. 

It was a curious sight — men, oxen, horses and sheep 
floundering about in the water ; one man pushed down 
by a horse, another trampled on by an ox ; while others 
in their haste to reach the water tumbled head over 
heels down the bank, followed by a sheep or goat; 
some stuck fast in the mud and shouted for help; 
others again clung to the horns or tail of an ox, and 
tried to extricate themselves in that way. Taking it 
altogether, it was a most ludicrous sight; but there 
was no disposition to merriment until all were satiated 
and withdrew from the water. But as soon as each 
bedraggled, muddy specimen appeared he was greeted 
with shouts of laughter and comparisons upon his ap- 
pearance — the reverse of complimentary, but with them 
it was, ‘‘ WhaBs the odds as long as we are happy.’' 

The cattle, now being refreshed, were outspanned, 
and preparations made to pass the night. Supper was 
soon served, and after coffee most lay down to smoke. 

3 


34 


Doctor Carrington. 


A few of the more experienced went to explore the 
river, two going up stream to where it issued from a 
deep gorge. There they found traces of game, but saw 
none. While resting under some acacia trees they could 
hear the sound of a waterfall in the distance as it tum- 
bled down through the rocks, and watched it as it 
rushed from them, clear and sparkling, to lose itself 
in the muddy stream that had so lately embraced them. 
The rocks were covered with mimosa and mimulus, 
the blossoms of which resemble the face of a grinning 
monkey. Those who went down stream were more 
lucky. They not only found traces of game, but saw 
the great hairy face of a lion among the reeds and lotus 
that grew in profusion on its edges. They quickly re- 
traced their steps, as they were not quite prepared for 
an encounter, not knowing how many companions he 
might have, as the reeds along that part of the river 
were beaten and trampled down, indicating that it 
was a watering-place for large animals. 

After consultation it was decided to keep fires burn- 
ing all night, and parties were sent out to hunt up ma- 
terials for it. At dark they were lighted and a call by 
bugle for the return of the stragglers was sounded by 
Tommy Dodd, a Kaffir boy servant of Captain Siger- 
son, who was on his way to relieve Major Foster, and 
to intercept arms and ammunition that were being 
sent from the Free States by the Dutch to the Basutos. 

During the night a troop of quaggas came to drink. 
The stallion, scenting danger, snorted the alarm, and 


Through the Desert. 


35 


all turned tail, the stallion bringing up in the rear. 
Next a lion put in an appearance, and after lapping 
the water for some time, lay down under the shade of 
some bushes. The next to appear on the scene, but a 
little further up, was a giraffe. He waded out some 
distance to drink, then returning to the bank, began to 
crop the herbage near to some acacia bushes, whose 
large thorn-like spikes have often proved a barricade 
to the hunter. The lion, from his cover, eyed him for 
some time. Then, stealthily crawling to his feet and 
giving his body a shake, he bounded into the air, in- 
tending to alight on the giraffe’s head, but at that in- 
stant he turned it, and the lion tumbled into the very 
center of a large bush, where he was impaled on the 
thorns. The more he tried to extricate himself the 
more hopelessly he became entangled. A spear thrown 
by one of the men stopped his roaring and ended his 
suffering. Captain Sigerson would allow no firing 
where it could be avoided, being in an unfriendly coun- 
try, and wishing to protct the stores and armament he 
was taking to the relief of the little garrison. 


CHAPTER VIL 


TOMMIE DODD. 

The Kaffirs are great mimics, and quite often let 
people see themselves as others see them.” Tommy 
Dodd was a unique character. He had lived for some 
time at one of the missions, and it was said that his 
parents had been converted. If so, then Tommy was 
a degenerate. He would hold forth by the hour to a 
crowd of his kin, quoting Scripture in a most mal 
apropos way, and emphasizing the manner, voice, ges- 
tures and broad Scotch accent of the good missionary 
who had been so kind to him. 

One day he made his appearance, literally incased in 
mission literature; his body from head to heels was 
covered with tracts and leaves from spelling-books, and 
singing at the top of his voice : 

“ Here I rise, my Ebenezer, 

Hither by thy help I come.” 

Captain Sigerson put a stop to his capers, and disci- 
plined him for taking the tracts from the baggage. 

Tommy was like the Scotchman in India: he had 
an aversion to breeches, and once presented himself in 
a state of nature ; his black face and body shining with 
grease and charcoal. He was ordered to go directly 
36 


Tommie Dodd. 


37 


and put on some clothing. He did, and returned, 
clothed in a breech-cloth of two cotton handkerchiefs 
— the one in front bearing a likeness of Her Majesty 
the Queen. Then wheeling quickly around, presented 
on the reverse side a picture of Mr. Gladstone. That 
was too much for even the gravity of Captain Siger- 
son, and he had to join in the merriment. 

The bustle and excitement of crossing the river in 
the morning occupied some time. The African ox is 
almost as difficult to manage as the mule, but much 
more patient. However, after the use of many exple- 
tives in Kaffir, Basuto, low-Dutch, and good round 
English, all were safely landed. 

The country on the other side was pretty well 
wooded, and quite a relief after the bushless plain. 
The road now followed the windings of the river, 
which in many places flowed through immense chasms 
with overhanging precipices, and again into a trans- 
lucent lake, with the acacia, mimosa and gigantic bao- 
bab tree reflected on its bosom. There were a great 
number of birds with bright plumage; among them 
those with the long tail-like feathers at the end of their 
wings, and a great variety of small birds with tail 
feathers four or five times the length of their bodies, 
but all without song; wild geese, ducks, snipe and 
flamingoes feeding in perfect security on the bank be- 
neath the green shade. Swallows also mounted aloft 
or skimmed over the mirror-like stream. Flocks of 
guinea-fowls would occasionally add to the varied 


38 


Doctor Carrington. 


scene with their shrill cry and whirling flight from the 
open plain to the sloping banks, where they passed the 
night amidst the branches of the acacia and willow 
trees. 

No large game was seen, with the exception of a 
troop of elands, who came to drink, but fled on ap- 
proach. The larger game is quickly disappearing, 
owing to the advance of the white man and the Kaffirs’ 
love of destruction in burning the forests, for wherever 
he starts his kraal these are sacrificed, and as the trees 
which are indigenous to the country are of slow growth, 
it will take years and years to replace them. 

Only a few natives were met with, and they poor, 
half-starved Bushmen whose huts had been burned 
and their cattle carried off by a party of marauding 
Basutos. They were given some food. The soup was 
boiling hot, but they would not wait for it to cool, 
thrusting one hand into the pot and scooping it out, 
then tossing into the other, and from that into their 
capacious mouths, and then wiping their hands on their 
bodies so as not to lose any of the grease. After gorg- 
ing themselves and being supplied with tobacco, they 
offered to guide the party through a defile in the moun- 
tain, thereby cutting off many miles, and besides be- 
ing more secure. Some one quoted : 

“ A road is a road, tho’ worn to ruts ; 

Let him who goes keep straight therein, 

But he who lacks and takes short cuts, 

Gets fool praise and a broken shin,” 


Tommie Dodd. 


39 


It was decided to risk it, so they made a detour and 
followed a spur that led to the blue mountains that 
were seen in the distance. Before reaching there, how- 
ever, the chief and rain doctor from the Bushmen’s 
village came to welcome Captain Sigerson. 

The rain doctor is a person of some importance 
among his people, and he was a fair specimen of the 
class — shrewd, keen and observing; quick to take 
advantage of any pretext that would lend coloring to 
his pretended knowledge. He was dressed in full re- 
galia; a coronet of feathers, with the horn of the rhi- 
noceros standing up in front about completed his 
uniform, with the exception of some rings and brace- 
lets. 

There had been a great drought, and all were clamor- 
ing for rain. He had promised it, and luck was on 
his side this time. Pointing to great masses of white 
clouds like mountains of snow, capped with yellow, 
that were rising above the beautiful blue mountains, 
he asked Captain Sigerson what he thought of it. At 
that moment the white mass began to shift, and was 
quickly replaced by a misty vapor convulsed and roll- 
ing with great velocity. The captain, looking grave, 
said undoubtedly there was a storm coming, but could 
not say how soon. That seemed to satisfy the rain- 
maker, and he hurried to the mountains to hasten it. 

The cattle were outspanned and preparations made to 
pass the night; fires were lighted and a watch set. 
About midnight the storm announced itself with a ter- 


40 


Doctor Carrington. 


rific crash, followed quickly by others more loud and 
deafening, and always preceded by blinding flashes of 
lightning. It really seemed as if the heavens were fall- 
ing on the earth, and Jove, in his wrath, rending it to 
pieces. The crashing and lightning so frightened the 
poor animals that they huddled themselves together 
for protection. Rain followed the thunder, and it 
came in abundance, pouring in torrents, and felling 
trees, bushes, and all vegetation flat to the earth. 

After the storm, all the natives ran to congratulate 
the rain-maker, but he was nowhere to be found. 
Smellers were sent to the mountains to scent him out. 
All returned with dreadful tales of death and destruc- 
tion. The top and sides of the mountain were littered 
with the carcasses of dead animals, but no trace or 
scent of the rain-maker could they find. 

He was found by Sam Ferguson sitting on the hol- 
low of a rock, looking like a drowned cock, as he ex- 
pressed it. Dead he was, but not drowned. He had 
fallen a victim to the subtle agency of one of the pow- 
ers he had gone to invoke. Great was the grief and 
lamentations of the people. Dark looks were cast on 
Captain Sigerson, and hints thrown out that the cal- 
amity was caused by the faces of the white men. From 
information gained by Tommy Dodd, Captain Siger- 
son thought it best to hasten his departure. 

It took four hours to pass through the defile in the 
mountain, the road being just wide enough for the 
great lumbering wagons. A sharp lookout was kept. 


Tommie Dodd. 


41 


but nothing more dangerous was seen than a troop of 
monkeys capering around a patriarchal old fellow who 
was sunning himself on a boulder. Some of their ac- 
tions and attitudes were most comical. Tommy said 
it was a meeting of their Pitsho, or parliament. 

On the egress from the defile, a party of Bushmen 
were seen approaching. They had been making re- 
prisals on some of the Basutos and had recaptured 
some of the cattle. For reasons easily known, they 
were not informed of the death of the rain doctor, and 
in return for information Captain Sigerson gave them 
some tobacco and biscuits. 

The part of the country now to be traversed was 
agreeably interspersed with rivers that were easily 
forded ; the road was good, having been traveled con- 
siderably, as it led to the Free States. The hope of 
reaching their destination without further hindrance 
was realized, and they received a most cordial and 
hearty welcome. 


CHAPTER VIII. 


NEWS FROM SIGERSON. 

‘‘ I HAVE just received a letter from Sigerson, uncle, 
and here is what he says : 

“ ‘ Tommy Dodd has b^en up to Letsea Kraal and 
learned that Carter was badly wounded in an encounter 
with some Cape Mounted Rifles, and barely escaped 
capture. He was carried off by Koejana, a powerful 
chief, and the biggest scoundrel unhung. Carter is 
being doctored by the old women of the tribe, and is 
getting well. The boy is with him, for Carter will not 
bear him out of his sight, and is apparently much at- 
tached to him. The boy is well and strong. His skin 
is tanned to the color of mahogany, and together with 
his dark hair falling on his shoulders and his black eyes 
and outlandish garb, he looks more like an Arab than 
a white boy. Carter is ruling the whole tribe through 
him, as they look up to him as an oracle, and his word 
is law. I would advise no action for his release just 
now. As it is, things begin to have a threatening look. 
Calhoun intercepted and captured a whole wagon load 
of rifles, brandy and blankets that some Dutch Boers 
and a renegade Englishman, a trader, were carrying 
42 


News From Sigerson. 


43 


to the Basutos. We had a skirmish with Kajan’s men. 
They had made a raid on a Fingo village, carried off 
their cattle and burned their granaries and Tunka’s 
kraal. He asked for help, and we could not refuse, as 
he is so friendly to us. So Foster and I went out with 
fifty men to capture the cattle. We moved up to below 
the ridge on which the village stands, rushed a kraal 
at its foot, burned the village and got the cattle. It 
was terribly hard work to rush the village, as it was all 
uphill work. I got so blown I could not run another 
yard. Foster was even worse. He was laughing and 
waving his sword, and trying to keep up a jog trot, but 
in vain. Anyhow we came off without a scratch, al- 
though the bullets whistled about our heads for some 
time. I forgot to say that Tommy saw the boy, but 
could not get speech with him, as he is surrounded by 
a guard of young men who are now undergoing a puri- 
fying process to fit them for the war. They are en- 
tirely under the care of the old women and men of the 
tribe, who bathe them in the river every morning be- 
fore sunrise, and who lubricate their bodies with grease 
and charcoal until they shine like ebony. Should T 
hear anything more I will let you know. But rest as- 
sured that nothing can be done at present. 

“ ‘ Respectfully yours, 

^ Sidney Sigerson.' " 

What do you say to that, uncle ? " 

I have been cudgeling my brain to know what to 


44 


Doctor Carrington. 


say or think. That something is brewing is very evi- 
dent. And that Letsea is playing traitor, I am very 
much afraid. However, let us hope for the best, and I 
sincerely hope they will string up those fellows, the 
Englishman in particular. Good heavens! how the 
love of gain will debase a man. Anyhow you know 
that the boy is all right for the present. And what 
Sigerson says about things looking threatening, tallies 
with what Hugh heard this morning. There is to be 
a new moon dance at Kugan’s and Lerthodia and sev- 
eral other Basuto chiefs will be there. The dance is 
to be held in the open veldt, and as it is within my juris- 
diction, I should have been consulted. Now Kugan 
has done nothing of the kind, so I have sent a sharp 
message to him to know the reason why, and have no 
doubt I will receive a most abject apology and an invi- 
tation to the dance. So you will have a chance to see 
them in a merry mood, and if they get drunk there may 
be a free fight. They drink quarts of their Kaffir beer, 
and sometimes it is quite strong, particularly if made 
from honey. 

“ I have told Andy to have the horses saddled, and 
I want your opinion of them. Both are presents. The 
chestnut Casserly had sent over from home for me ; and 
the mare is from Caxton, a real Yankee horse and a 
beauty. I always ride her myself. The chestnut is 
for you. Trot him around, Sebastian, till Colonel 
Thornton sees his paces.” 

“ He is a tidy piece of horseflesh, uncle, but I am 


News From Sigerson. 45 

not much of a judge. Still I would say he is pretty 
well bred.’’ 

“ Right you are, Colonel, and there is not another 
horse in South Africa that can take a stone wall or a 
jump of any sort with him. Mr. Hugh took him over 
the Euphorbia hedge this morning without touching a 
thorn.” 

And won the bet, eh ? ” 

Yes, Mr. D’Arcy and he and Mr. Casserly have 
gone to meet Miss Hamilton and Father Stanhope.” 

“ So, so, Andy, and how is your catechism class get- 
ting along? ” 

“ Faith, and only middling, sir. Them ten com- 
mandments will surely be the death of me. Sure, it 
would take a hammer and a ten-penny nail to drive any- 
thing into them black skulls. For the last ten months 
I’ve been battering away at them with the same ques- 
tions, and bad scran to me if they know half of them 
yet.” 

‘‘Are you sure you know all of them yourself, 
Andy?” 

“ I know wan, sir, anyhow.” 

“ And which one is that, Andy ? ” 

“ The second wan, sir.” 

Mr. Fitzgerald laughed and vaulted into his saddle as 
nimbly as his nephew, and both started off on a merry 
canter, followed by two grooms. On reaching the 
open veldt they rested, and Mr. Fitzgerald began point- 
ing out the different kopjes. The objects on the near- 


46 


Doctor Carrington. 


est one that looked so much like beehives were gran- 
aries, built mostly by the women. They stick staves 
into the ground and wattle them together with twigs, 
then plastering the whole thing over with mud, and 
the roof with thatch, in the same way their huts are 
built. 

But why do they put them in such inaccessible 
places? 

To protect them from neighboring tribes, who 
often raid their villages. Then the women and chil- 
dren are sent up there for protection.'' 

“ They fight a great deal among themselves, then? " 
“ Yes, they are nearly always fighting or dancing. 
You should get Andy to tell you about some of the wo- 
men's dances; how they smack their naked stomachs 
and breasts with their hands, and keep time with their 
feet until the air resounds with the noise." 

‘‘ Andy seems a privileged character, uncle ? " 

“And why shouldn't he be? I owe my life more 
than once to him, and besides, he is the only link that 
binds me to the past. As far back as I can remember, 
Andy has been to me not only a servant but a comrade. 
As a boy he was my constant companion, for after my 
mother's death I was left to roam at my own sweet will. 
Many a day we spent around Fanad Head and Sheep 
Haven, aboard the Norah Crener, whose equal we 
thought was not in the Roval Navy. When I was sent 
to school it nearly broke Andy's heart because he could 
not go with me. The only thing that reconciled him 


News From Sigerson. 


47 


was my vacations. And when I got my commission 
and was ordered with the regiment to Ceylon, Andy 
took the shilling and donned the red so as to go with 
me. And since then, as I said before, he has been to 
me not as a servant, but a brave comrade.” 

The last word had scarcely left Mr. Fitzgerald’s lips 
as a bullet whisked past Colonel Thornton’s ear. Both 
wheeled quickly around in their saddles to see a figure 
disappear down the ravine. Putting spurs to their 
horses they reached the spot neck and neck, but no trace 
of him could be seen. It would have been a fruitless 
task to hunt him in there. The place was one tangle of 
vines and euphorbia bushes, and there were numbers 
of crannies and nooks where he could hide with perfect 
safety. 

Mr. Fitzgerald was puzzled. Never before had such 
a thing occurred, and it was certain the act was de- 
liberate. But which was it intended for? Colonel 
Thornton was sure it was meant for him, and it missed 
him by his inclining his head at that moment to hear 
more distinctly what his uncle was saying, he being a 
little deaf in his right ear. While they were deliberat- 
ing about it a chief and some men came galloping up 
the road. On seeing Mr. Fitzgerald one rode forward 
to say that Koejana wanted speech with Morena. 
They were told to come forward. Mr. Fitzgerald was 
in no mood to palaver, and wanted to know who it 
was that fired the shot. Koejana disclaimed all knowl- 
edge of it and said he came to invite Morena to the 


48 


Doctor Carrington. 


dance. A thought struck Colonel Thornton and he 
told his uncle to ask if Carter was in his kraal. He 
shook his head and said that would be giving them 
away. 

Turning to Kojana, he thanked him for the invita- 
tion, but said he must find out who fired the shot and 
give him iip. If they did not he would hang every 
mother’s son of them high as Haman. Colonel Thorn- 
ton was quite sure it was Carter who had fired the shot, 
and his uncle was inclined to think so too, and expected 
to find out something about it at the dance. Telling 
their grooms to keep their rifles unslung and to say 
nothing about the shooting, they wheeled about and 
started for home. Mr. Fitzgerald ruminated for some 
time. Finally he remarked to his nephew that he 
wished Caxton was there. 

You seem to have great confidence in* him, uncle? ” 

“ That I have, and so will you Avhen you know him. 
He is one of those chaps who learn by induction, rea- 
soning in the same way. He will draw conclusions 
from what we would consider trifles, and he is nearly 
always right.” 

You mean that he is a close observer, and by put- 
ting this and that together, draws conclusions from 
them. I should think a fellow like that would be a 
bore.” 

‘‘ On the contrary, Caxton is very shy and diffident 
and altogther a good fellow and quite the gentleman.” 


CHAPTER IX. 


AL FRESCO BREAKFASTS. 

How I do enjoy these al fresco breakfasts on the 
balcony, Millie, and one never tires of the distant view 
of those mountains. During my reconnoitering rides, 
however, I have been quite disillusioned about the fo- 
liage of some of the trees, particularly the sugar tree. 
Its leaves have an aggravating effect on me, they are so 
ragged and straggly. The blossoms though are pretty 
and remind one of the large white chrysanthemum. 
Speaking of blossoms, what a wealth of them are in the 
woods! We came across a pool the other day where 
there were specimens, I suppose, of every lily that 
grows, pink, purple, blue, yellow and white ; and along 
its borders hundreds of tall arum Hies and scarlet In- 
dian shot. The effect was dazzling. By the way, I 
saw some of the natives gathering the seed of the In- 
dian shot, and wondered what they were going to do 
with it.” 

“ Oh, they put it into gourds and tie them around 
their legs and ankles, so that when they dance they 
will rattle and make a noise.” 

How childish some of them are ! ” 

“ Yes, and some are spoiled children. Uncle takes 
4 49 


Doctor Carrington. 


SO 

the ground they have not been fairly treated. You 
see uncle is a very just man.” 

“ Who is a just man, Millie? ” 

‘‘ Why, you, to be sure, uncle. We thought you 
were so absorbed in your paper that you did not care to 
join in the conversation.” 

Well, what is it all about? ” 

‘‘ Fred wants to know something about the native 
tribes.” 

“ In the main they are a lazy, indolent lot. Some 
indeed are industrious and have pretty nice farms and 
fine cattle. As to their being Christians, that is a coat 
of another color. I have come to the conclusion that 
the only way to civilize them is to begin with the young, 
as Johnson said about the Scotch.” 

“ Have the young any aptitude for learning? ” 

Yes, indeed. And some are quite intelligent. 
You must come and see Andy’s school. You did not 
know that he was a pedagogue. Yes, and of the reg- 
ular hedge school style. His academy is worth a visit. 
We had a Scotchman here named Macknab. The fellow 
was clever but could not keep sober. So I packed him 
off to Natal where I got him a position in Bishop 
Colenso’s college. Andy proposed to take his place 
and he does very well. Besides, it keeps him employed. 
Just now he is getting a class prepared for Father Stan- 
hope.” 

Is he any relation to the Earl of Stanhope? ” 
Why, to be sure, he is or was the Earl, but on be- 


A 1 Fresco Breakfasts. 51 

coming a priest he resigned the title and estates to his 
brother, the present earl.” 

“ You will be delighted with him, Fred. He is a 
splendid man, and with the most charming manner. 
We look on his visits as days to be marked with white 
stones. He spends about two months with us every 
year, calling it his vacation. But I am sure not one on 
the place works so hard as he.” 

That is true, Millie ; I can scarcely get him to take 
a ride.” 


CHAPTER X. 


AT THE DANCE. 

‘‘ Fred, my boy, I believe you were about right in 
your surmises, and I am now almost convinced that it 
was that ruffian Carter who fired the shot. A runner 
came in this morning from Zululand with a message to 
me from Dodo to say that I have an enemy in a white 
man now in Cetewayo’s camp. He is a witch doctor and 
had been to Lerothodi to help him stir up the Basutos 
against the Government. He quarreled with Koejana 
because he would not help him raid my house. Then 
he stole away bringing his son with him, otherwise he 
would not have been allowed to leave. What do you 
say to that ? ” • 

I say that if my hands were not tied by my duty 
to the Government, I would try to penetrate their 
stronghold and get the boy.^’ 

‘‘ That you could never do.” 

I suppose not, but I regret I did not try to do it 
when he was nearer to me.” 

“ That would have only precipitated events and God 
knows what the results might have been. Besides*, ^ 
you would have been disobeying your superiors by pro- 
voking an attack.” 

‘‘ I suppose you are right, but I feel at times that 

52 


At the Dance. 


53 


it is more than flesh and blood can bear, when I think 
how near my boy has been to me, and not knowing 
what danger he might have been in, and 1 not able to 
go to his assistance.” 

“ The boy is not, and never has been in any very im- 
minent danger. He is too strong a card for Carter, and 
you will see that when he shows his hand. For the 
present I will see that he has a protector in Dodo, ras- 
cal though he be. He has shown his friendship for 
me by sending the messenger.” 

“ Don’t you think that your threat to hang Koejana 
and his men helped to hasten Carter’s departure ? ” 

“ I do, and think he had been lurking in the ravine 
after firing the shot and heard the threat.” 

It was a curous sight that met the Colonel’s eyes as 
he and his uncle rode into the veldt that morning. A 
circle had been formed under a great baobab tree. 
With the chiefs to the front, each chief attended by 
his Indunas, they were distinguishable from each other 
by their war dress. That of Baphuti by the color and 
size of their shields as well as the kind and profusion of 
feathers that adorned their heads, having also a long 
feather of the blue heron rising from their brows. 
Their arms were large shields, short spears, and clubs, 
generally the horn of the rhinoceros, or some hard 
wood which they throw with unerring accuracy. The 
spear is not intended for throwing, but for close com- 
bat. They must conquer or die. If one returns with- 
out his shield or spear he is instantly despatched. 


54 


Doctor Carrington. 


The Basuto chief Lerthodia was attended by his 
famous battle-axes. They wore cloaks of skin hang- 
ing from their necks and shoulders. Only a few car- 
ried rifles, but all had assegais. Letsea, the paramount 
chief, took his stand in the center and bowed his head. 
Then the women, a number of whom were present, be- 
gan a grotesque performance by smacking their naked 
stomachs and beating their sides with their elbows in 
measured cadence with the movement of their feet, so 
that the air resounded with the noise produced. 

One of the chief features was a war dance of about 
thirty ladies from the harem, who began rushing to 
and fro, stooping, kneeling, shouting, brandishing bat- 
tle-axes and assegais, and going through all the panto- 
mime of war until most of them fell in hysterics and 
their dance was over, to be replaced by a hundred young 
warriors of the different tribes. They formed into 
circles and flew around, exhibiting great agility and 
displaying an amount of naked length of limb and body. 
The Basutos flung off their cloaks like the witches in 
Tam O’Shanter, linked at it, not in their sarks but 
naked pelt. Then the fun grew fast and furious. 
Each party would advance shouting, brandishing bat- 
tle-axes or assegais, then retreating to advance again, 
and then forming into circles, whirling around to di- 
vide into pairs, and to end like the dancing pair that 
simply sought renown by holding out to tire each other 
down.’^ 

Letsea sat down on his shield of lion skin, and a 


At the Dance. 


55 


woman brought him a pot of beer, kneeling in front 
of him, and first tasting it herself to show that it was 
not poisoned. Then he tasted it and handed the pot 
to Morena and Colonel Thornton. However unpleas- 
ant, they drank, as it would have been a breach of eti- 
quette to refuse. Indeed, had not the massacre of 
Isandhlana and the loss of so many friends there been 
present in their minds, they could have laughed at the 
whole buffoonery. 

Mrs. Thornton was superintending the drying of 
some fruit in the court when a Cape cart with Miss 
Hamilton and Miss Maguire drove in. Their greetings 
were those of affectionate friends, and Miss Maguire 
was heartily welcomed. The gentlemen remained at 
Hasilton’s as an attack was expected that evening on 
the station. A party of Baphuti had carried off some 
of his cattle, and in trying to recapture them one of 
the Baphuti had been killed, and that had so incensed 
them against Hasilton they were seeking revenge. 

The gentlemen stopped to render what assistance 
they could. We wanted Father Stanhope to come on 
with us, but he thought he had better stay and see the 
end of it. So here we are, all alone by ourselves, as 
Dodo would say. By the by, how are the children, 
Mrs. Thornton ? ’’ 

“ They are very well, but have been very naughty, 
and are now in punishment.’’ 

Mrs. Thornton was a very kind and affectionate 
mother and thoroughly understood her duties and re- 


56 


Doctor Carrington. 


sponsibilities. She was very strict in regard to truth- 
fulness and obedience, and the children were now suf- 
fering for a lapse from both. The men were brand- 
ing cattle and the children wished to see them. But 
their mother said no and forbade them to leave the 
house, and went to see to the drying of the fruit. From 
the schoolroom windows the children could see Uncle 
D’Arcy and Uncle Fred on horseback watching the 
men as they chased the steers around the inclosurc. 
They became excited and wanted to see it too. So send- 
ing the nurse out of the room on a fooFs errand, they 
escaped from the house and made off as fast as their 
legs could carry them to the inclosure. It just so hap- 
pened as they reached the place that some steers had 
bolted the fence, and it was only through God’s mercy 
that they were not trampled to death. 

Colonel Thornton and Mr. Fitzgerald just then com- 
ing into the court, there were more introductions and 
handshakings. 

So, Mollie darling, no one has fallen in love with 
you and carried you off? ” 

No, Mr. Fitzgerald, no one thought it worth their 
while.” 

The more fools they. Well, I suppose you have 
been left for the ' old man’s darling.’ Millie, how 
would you like her for an aunt ? ” 

I am afraid there is no such luck in store for you, 
uncle mine.” 

“ I am afraid so, too, my dear.” 


At the Dance. 


57 


Where are the children ? I never had such a fright' 
in all my life. My blood runs cold when I think of it. 
Their escape was something miraculous. Maurice 
was frightened, but Dodo thought it lots of fun.” 

A sudden thunderstorm coming up interrupted the 
conversation and all became hurry and bustle to get 
the fruit in before the rain. Colonel Thornton, hurry- 
ing with a great tray of figs, tripped up Miss Hamilton 
who was similarly laden with apricots, and both tum- 
bled to the ground scattering their burdens right and 
left. Andy hastened to Miss Hamilton’s assistance, 
but the Colonel had quickly recovered himself and had 
picked her up in his arms. 

Faith, and it’s a gallant colonel you are, to be sure. 
First knock a lady down, then pick her up and hug 
her. I heard that’s the way the blacks do in Australia, 
but I don't like it at all.” 

Miss Hamilton was now standing rosy red, and the 
colonel looking very shamefaced. Andy added more 
and more to their embarrassment by his remarks as he 
brushed off some of the debris from Miss Hamilton’s 
frock. The Colonel had picked up her hat and was 
holding it in his hand. In his confusion he clapped it 
on his own head, which made all roar with laughter, 
during which Miss Hamilton made her escape. The 
incident broke up all formality, and when they met 
again at the dinner table they were a jolly party. 

Miss Hamilton stole softly to the nursery and peeped 
in. The nurse was fast asleep on a chair. Maurice 


58 Doctor Carrington. 

was standing by a window watching the pouring rain 
and running his fingers up and down the glass, making 
a peculiar screeching noise. Dodo was fast asleep on 
the sofa, her little face begrimed with tears. Miss 
Hamilton’s own became suffused, and a choking sensa- 
tion in her throat caused her to cough. Maurice, turn- 
ing quickly around at the noise, and seeing her, sprang 
to her with Oh, Mollie darling ! ” nearly strangling 
her with the suddenness of his embrace. The noise 
awoke the nurse just in time to place a chair for Mrs. 
Thornton, who had quietly entered. Maurice’s arms 
were soon around his mother’s neck, and his sorrow 
and repentance poured into her ears. Dodo, disturbed 
in her sleep by the confusion, began murmuring, 
‘‘ Mama darling, mama darling, I’s so sorry for being 
bad.” 

Mrs. Thornton, scarcely able to control her emo- 
tion, and with Maurice clinging to her skirts, gathered 
her up in her arms. Miss Hamilton slipped gently 
from the room, beckoning the nurse to follow her, leav- 
ing mother and children alone. 


CHAPTER XL 


A VISIT TO Andy's academy. 

‘‘ Well, Hugh, and how did the fight come off? 

“ Oh, there wasn’t any fight at all ; the beggars 
funked and didn’t show up. They had heard of our ar- 
rival. We gave them a scare, though. Caxton, Has- 
ilton and I climbed up to India Kraal. The fellow re- 
ceived us graciously, but what a liar he is ! At first 
he denied everything ; never saw anything of Hasilton’s 
cattle, and never was near his place. Finally he ad- 
mitted that some of his men might have been, and tried 
to justify it by saying he thought some part of the 
earth’s surface belonged to them, and that if their game 
was shot and their honey pilfered by the white man, 
they had a right to reprisals. Caxton says they have 
according to the natural law. I threatened them with 
dire punishment if the thing happened again, and talked 
to them about the Disarming Act and giving up their 
arms, telling them that the Government would pay them 
for each article. India shrugged his shoulders and 
said he had no guns, but I said assegais, spears and 
knockberries must be given up also. He then wanted 
to know if the Government intended to starve them, for 
how were they to kill game or protect themselves with- 

59 


6o 


Doctor Carrington. 


out arms. However, he would hear what Morena had 
to say at the coming Pitsho, and gave me decidedly to 
understand that 1 didn’t count in the matter. He be- 
came uneasy as he caught Caxton’s eyes wandering 
about the place making mental pictures, and I felt sure 
he wished us all in the limbo of uncertainty.” 

Well, Caxton, what are your ideas of the affair? ” 

“ I have formed but very few ideas on the subject, 
Mr. Fitzgerald. I feel sorry for the poor devils, for 
you know that my sympathies are always with the un- 
der dog.” 

The above conversation took place on the open veldt 
where Colonel Thornton and Mr. Fitzgerald had rid- 
den out to meet them and inspect the place for the com- 
ing Pitsho. Some distance from the house they were 
met by a party of Andy’s scholars who came to welcome 
Father Stanhope. On seeing him they began shouting 
and clapping their hands, and showing every demon- 
stration of joy and delight. He dismounted and was 
soon surrounded by an eager, pushing crowd, all want- 
ing to shake his hand and get his blessing. Like all 
gentle, kind-hearted men, he was a great favorite with 
children, and said he found some of his greatest pleas- 
ures among them. He had such a gentle method of 
reproving their faults that they were not so much afraid 
as ashamed to repeat them. 

Despatches were waiting for Colonel Thornton and 
Mr. Fitzgerald at the house. An express rider had ar- 
rived during their absence. Mr. Fitzgerald’s contained 


A Visit to Andy’s Academy. 6i 

the news of Cetewayo’s capture, and of course the end 
of the Zulu war, and for him to announce the same at 
the coming Pitsho. 

“ It will be all very well for me to announce it, but 
to get them to believe it is another thing.” 

Colonel Thornton’s was rather startling. It was to 
the effect that the Colonial Government would have to 
stamp out the rebellion in Basutoland and maintain the 
authority of Pier Majesty the Queen by its own un- 
aided efforts; and that the imperial authorities would 
prohibit the assistance of a single soldier. 

“ That, I suppose, means your recall at any mo- 
ment ? ” 

‘‘ I will never leave here until I find the boy. I will 
resign first.” 

“ Perhaps, under the circumstances, it would be the 
best thing for you to do.” 

“ And offer my services to the Colonial Govern- 
ment ? ” 

‘‘ No, I would not do that — at least for the present.” 

After consulting with his friends that evening Col- 
onel Thornton sent off his resignation by a special 
rider in the morning, casting his fortunes with the 
Africanders. 

Aftter breakfast a visit was paid to Andy’s academy 
by Father Stanhope and Colonel Thornton. Andy 
was hammering away at the catechism to a class of 
about twenty youngsters who answered in concert. To 
the question “ Who made you ? ” came the answer 


62 


Doctor Carrington. 


God/’ Said Andy sotto voce, “ Then may He forgive 
me for thinking He must have been hard up for a job.” 

And what did He make you for ? ” To know Him, 
to love Him, and to serve Him all our lives.” “ Was 
it serving Him ye were when ye stole Mrs. Thornton’s 
apricots?” “No.” “What commandment did ye 
break then?” “The seventh, sir.” “How many 
commandments are there?” “Ten, sir.” “Then 
take your slates and Bible and open at Exodus, chapter 
twinty — I mean the first division, and write them 
down.” 

Just then the children caught sight of Father Stan- 
hope and began clapping their hands. 

“ Good morning, Andrew, and how are your children 
doing? ” 

“ Only middling, sir. I feel at times as if I might 
jist as well whistle jigs to a milestone as to try to teach 
them anything.” 

“ Oh, you must not be discouraged. I think you are 
doing wonderfully well. But where did you get so 
many Bibles, Andrew ? ” 

“ From one Mr. MacPherson, sir, a missionary who 
was here trying to convert them black heathens. He 
had to give it up as a bad job. He was a very good man 
too, and tried to do his best, but that divil of a witch 
doctor was always before him with an answer and 
turned his questions into ridicule. So he turned over 
his stock in trade to me and jist cleared his skirts of 
them.” 


A Visit to Andy’s Academy. 63 

Well, and how are you getting along with the 
work ? '' 

“ Is it with them old heathens ? Oh, faith, no. 
They are a lazy, lousy lot and the biggest thieves un- 
hung. Why, sir, they would steal the cross off an ass. 
They nearly killed Mr. MacPherson with their thiev- 
ing. When he would be preaching to them some one 
would creep into his house and steal his dinner out of 
the pot on the fire, and often carried off pot and all. 
Once they stole his clothes while he was asleep, leaving 
him divil a thing but a shirt and blanket. One heathen 
took his trousers and got one leg in, but could not man- 
age to get in the other. Seeing Mr. MacPherson get 
out of bed, off he started helter skelter down the rocks, 
the loose leg flying out behind and he looking for all 
the world like the image on a Mank penny.” 

“ That must have been a sore trial for him, Andy.” 

‘‘ Indeed it was, Colonel. It was just the last straw. 
Then Mr. Fitzgerald wanted me to give them a trial. 
I said the men were welcome, but no females.” 

Why not women, Andy? ” 

“ Them nasty huzzies ! Oh no. Colonel. The naked 
men are bad enough.” 

“ Did you succeed in teaching them, Andrew? ” 

“ No, Father Stanhope, I did not succeed at all. 
They would come in here and begin to hunt and kill 
game, and never having seen benches before, as they al- 
ways sit on the floor, they would put their feet upon 
them and with their knees drawn up to their chins 


64 


Doctor Carrington. 


would fall asleep and tumble over on some other snor- 
ing heathen. Then there would be a fight. They are 
always either fighting, laughing or dancing. Some 
days they would sit for hours titivating themselves.” 

Their toilet could not have been very extensive, 
Andy?” 

Maybe no, sir, but it took them some time to do it. 
They would chew some monkey nuts and with the juice 
would polish up their bodies till they shone, helping 
each other in out-of-the-way places where they could 
not reach themselves.” 

What did you do then, Andrew ? ” 

“ I jist cleaned them out, the whole kit and bang o’ 
them, and was in a swither for some time about whether 
I’d take the young ones or no.” 

In returning from Andy’s academy Father Stanhope 
and Colonel Thornton were amused at a picture pre- 
sented by Miss Maguire and the children. She was 
seated on the gnarled root of an old tree, the children 
on the grass facing her. Dodo had her little fat hands 
pressed flat together and held fast between her knees 
with the fingers pointing down, and bending eagerly 
forward. Her big blue eyes were wide open and she 
was all attention to the fairy tale Miss Maguire was 
reciting to them. On seeing her uncle and Father 
Stanhope she insisted on their listening to the tale also. 
But Miss Maguire could not remember where she left 
off, she said, as she just spun them out of her head as 
the whim seized her. 


Telling a Story. 





S:i^n ■- ;, '■^: -^■^,, • ,. 

.V' -tv'’ "i ^ "• '■^'^’fe 


A 


tfc 


-J 




■.v*«>: 




♦ ; 


\ 


>•■ 


w 4 



^ A 4 Ifc - • " M 





r ^ 




i&T? 

pjr -tv*'^ 



A Visit to Andy’s Academy. 65 

‘‘ Oh, don’t believe her, Uncle Fred, she is just full 
of stories,” said Maurice. 

“ Yes, a whole library of fairy tales,” came a voice 
from behind the tree, and as Caxton came around to 
join the party he slipped a note-book into his pocket. 

“ What have you got in the book, Caxton ? ” 

Miss Maguire’s story. She says she cannot re- 
member any of them after they have been once told, so 
I have just taken a few notes for reference.” 

5 


CHAPTER XIT. 


THE PITSHO. 

The morning of the Pitsho dawned bright and clear. 
Mr. Fitzgerald and the male members of his family 
were soon in the saddle and on their way to the meet- 
ing place in the veldt. On reaching there they found 
to their consternation that instead of being a meeting 
of conciliation it was one of open defiance. Nearly all 
the chiefs had arrived with hundreds of their warriors 
and all in battle array. Lerthodia was the last. The 
battle-cry of the Basutos could be heard piercing the 
air long before he dashed into the open veldt at the head 
of hundreds and hundreds of Basuto warriors. 
Armed to the teeth, their spears, battle-axes and as- 
segais glinting in the bright sun. It was a grand sight, 
the Basutos being well mounted and in perfect disci- 
pline. 

Moriso, the paramount chief of Basutoland, took his 
stand in the center of an immense circle of soldiers, and 
was hailed with shouts of Baaite ! followed by a 
number of his high-sounding titles, such as Great King, 
King of Heaven, the Elephant, and many more just as 
extravagant. 

66 


The Pitsho. 


67 


Mr. Fitzgerald was asked to take his place beside 
him. Dismounting and passing the bridle to Colonel 
Thornton, he ascended the dais on which Moriso was 
then seated, saluting him and several other chiefs, who 
returned the salutation rather brusquely. Mr. Fitz- 
gerald began his address by advising them to give up 
their arms peacefully, telling them they would be re- 
compensed for every article given up, and had no doubt 
but that they would be returned to them after the pres- 
ent excitement had died away. 

You know me and know that I have always taken 
your part and have always been your friend. Now I 
ask you for your own good to take my advice and obey 
the order of Her Majesty the Queen. Cetewayo has 
been captured, is now in prison, and the Zulu war is 
over.” 

As he expected his announcement was greeted with 
derisive laughter and jeering comments made on it. 

‘‘ I cannot tell you how sad it makes me feel to 
hear you jeering and see so many scowling faces 
around me to-day, — I who was wont to be hailed as 
Morena, and in whom you always had a friend and 
protector.” 

Then Letsa stood up and said : It is not Morena 
we object to, but the great White Queen and her In- 
dunas. They have taken our land and our cattle, and 
driven us into the mountains to be devoured by the 
wild beasts, and now they want to take our arms so 
that we cannot defend ourselves. They have done the 


68 


Doctor Carrington. 


same thing before. Shall I tell you how often they 
have done so ? Were I to repeat to you all their acts of 
treachery and deceit you would rise up and kill every 
white man in Basutoland. Can or will we believe 
them ? No, no, for they are liars.” 

Then another chief addressing the assembly said: 
“ I do not rise to-day to make speeches. I shall wait 
for the day of mustering. But I beseech you to reflect 
on what is before you and to let the subject sink deep 
into your hearts that you may not turn your backs on 
the day of battle, and run like a chased dog and with 
shame place your head between your knees.” Then 
turning to Moriso, he said : “ You are too indifferent 
about the concerns of your people. You are rolled up 
in apathy. You must now wake up and show that you 
are a man.” His speech was received with great cheer- 
ing and clapping of hands. 

An old chief commenced his speech by advising that 
they wait until attacked. He had scarcely said this 
when he was interrupted by a young chief who sprang 
up calling out, “ No, no ! Who called upon you to 
speak foolishness? Was there ever a chief of Basutos 
who said you must stand up and speak? Do you in- 
tend to instruct the sons of a Baphuti? Be silent! 
You say for us to wait for them to make the attack. 
No, no I Hear and I will speak. Let us make the at- 
tack.” 

This speech was loudly cheered. Then Moriso arose 
and after the usual gesticulations commanded silence. 


The Pitsho. 


69 


Having noticed some remarks of preceding speakers, he 
added : It is evident that the best plan is not to pro- 
ceed against our enemies just at present. I have had 
news also, Morena. Cetewayo may be in prison, but 
his spirit is free. Yes, Morena, free as the wind, and 
it has told us what to do. Why does the Great White 
Queen want to withdraw her warriors ? Why, because 
she is afraid.” 

Turning to an aged chief who had been suggesting 
ideas to him, he said, I hear you, my father. I un- 
derstand you, my father. Your words are true. It is 
good to be instructed. I wish those evil who will not 
obey. I wish that they may be broken in pieces.” 
Then addressing the warriors, “ There are many of 
you who do not deserve to eat out of a bowl, but only 
out of a broken pot. Think on what has been said and 
obey without murmuring. I command you, ye chiefs, 
that you acquaint all your tribes of the proceedings 
this day. Let none be ignorant. I say again, ye war- 
riors, prepare for battle. Let your shields be strung, 
your quivers full, and your battle-axes as sharp and 
hungry.” 

Then Lerthodia arose, commanding silence, but was 
received with reiterated applause, on which a young 
chief rushed up to him, and holding forth his arms, 
called out, Behold the leader ! Behold the great war- 
rior of the Basutos — the man who will lead us to vic- 
tory ! ” Then turning to some old men he cried out : 
** Be silent, you kidney-eaters, you who are of no 


70 


Doctor Carrington. 


further use but to hang about for kidneys when an ox 
is slaughtered. If our oxen are taken where will you 
get any more? Prevent not the warrior from going to 
battle with your cries and lamentations.’’ 

Lerthodia taking up the same strain addressed the 
witch doctors : ‘‘ You, by your art, arouse the warriors 
to glory, so that they may return with honorable scars 
and fresh marks of glory. Arouse them to fight for 
their homes, their wives, and their children.” Then 
turning to the chiefs, “ If we submit now it will be for- 
ever, and if we flee they will overtake us, and if we 
fight we must conquer, for they are as strong as lions, 
and they kill and eat and leave nothing.” 

Here an old man interrupted the speaker, asking him 
to roar louder so that all could hear. “ I know you, ye 
Basutos,” continued Lerthodia, “ at home you are men 
in the face of the women. But are you ready to stand 
and not run in the face of the enemy? Think and pre- 
pare your hearts. This day be united and make your 
hearts hard.” Then turning and addressing Mr. Fitz- 
gerald, he said, “ Morena, I thank you in the name of 
my father for your friendship. That you have always 
been our friend we know, but the time has come to di- 
vide our hands, not our hearts.” 

Moriso now arose to dismiss the Pitsho. 

‘‘Ye sons of Basutoland, ye sons of Baphutis, you 
are to act wisely, first to deliberate, then to proceed. 
We must discover our danger like the rising sun after 
a dark night, A man sees not his danger when dark- 


The Pitsho. 


71 


ness shuts his eyes. Ours has been shown the light of 
day. The White Queen called this Pitsho, and for 
what? To make you give up your lands to the white 
man. Will we do it? No, no, it is our Pitsho. Let 
the Great White Queen call a Pitsho of her own war- 
riors. Now I dismiss you. Return to your kraals and 
fortify your mountains, fill your granaries and await 
the attack. I command you not to give up a single 
weapon, and above all be united and obey your chiefs.” 
Then raising his hands and waving them above his 
head he dismissed them. 

Several of the chiefs came to speak to Mr. Fitzgerald 
and to be introduced to Colonel Thornton and Father 
Stanhope. The others of the party also received kindly 
greetings, but as they surveyed the great moving mass 
of humanity, they wondered how much their friendship 
could be relied upon. With the Kaffirs promises are 
cheap and they are ready at all times with a redundancy 
of them. 

To say that Mr. Fitzgerald was disappointed is not 
enough ; he was discouraged, and he remarked to Col- 
onel Thornton, ‘‘ that if the Basutos were to make an 
attack just then they could wipe out every white man 
in Basutoland. The Colonial Government must now 
hurry up reinforcements. Volunteering is going on 
rapidly, companies and regiments are being formed, 
but they must make more haste, for this state of 
things cannot last long without a collision taking 
place.” 


72 


Doctor Carrington. 


That night a council of war was held at which Father 
Stanhope presided, and all the pros and cons were de~ 
bated. It was finally decided to urge the colonial au- 
thorities to send supplies and troops forward as quickly 
as possible. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


MISS HAMILTON AN HEIRESS. 

Some time after the Pitsho the family of Grenan 
Hill were assembled one morning after breakfast on 
the broad balcony facing the lawn and flower garden. 
Miss Hamilton and Miss Maguire, who had been with 
Hugh, Thornton, Casserly and Caxton for a canter, 
were still in their riding habits. Caxton was seated on 
the baluster and picking the flowers from a wax plant 
that had twined itself around the columns, and tossing 
them into Miss Maguire’s lap. All the others were 
reading their mail, which had just arrived. 

Colonel Thornton, from over his paper, was watch- 
ing Miss Hamilton’s face, as it flushed and paled dur- 
ing the perusal of her letter. As she finished she let 
it fall with her hands into her lap. Looking up she 
caught his eyes, and to his inquiry that he hoped she 
hadn’t received bad news, she answered confusedly, she 
did not know, and begging to be excused, she entered 
the house, followd by Mrs. Thornton, who had also 
been a close observer. 

Conjectures were expressed about the news in the 
letter, as from its black border all supposed it an- 
nounced the death of her grandfather. Caxton hoped 

73 


74 


Doctor Carrington. 


tliat he had left her a good round sum ; Casserly, that 
he didn’t leave her a copper. 

“ What do you think, uncle ? ” 

**' Think of what, Hugh? ” 

About Miss Hamilton’s grandfather.” 

“Well, what about the old curmudgeon?” 

“ We believe he is dead.” 

“ Then the Lord have mercy on him. Amen.” 

“ Do you think he has left her anything? ” 

“ I could not say. Better wait and she will tell you 
herself, or Millie will.” 

“ Fred, my boy, I want your assistance. I have 
been trying to decipher some balderdash from the com- 
missariat department. They seem to have lost their 
heads or what little brains they ever had in them. I 
am afraid I shall have to go to Cape Town, and if so 
I want you to accompany me.” 

“ That would be nice for Miss Hamilton, if she is 
called home just now, although I sincerely hope she is 
not,” remarked Caxton. 

Mrs. Thornton found Miss Hamilton with her arms 
resting on the table, and holding her head between her 
hands. To Mrs. Thornton’s expressions of condolence 
on her grandfather’s death, she said : 

“ Dear Mrs. Thornton, do not think me wanting in 
affection, but I am not grieving about grandfather’s 
death. It is his cruel treatment of my mother that 
keeps running in my mind. I am not vindictive, but I 
cannot help thinking of her, and of that dreadful night 


Miss Hamilton an Heiress. 


75 


he drove her from his house, saying that if ever we put 
in an appearance there again he would turn the dogs 
on us. Mama knew she had not long to live and 
thought she would make a personal appeal to him for 
me, knowing that she had not a friend in the wide 
world to leave me to. As soon as she announced her 
name he began a tirade of abuse, calling her the vilest 
names, and turned us out of the house with oaths and 
curses — out into the pelting rain and sleet. Yes, 
the whole scene comes up before me now. The wind 
howling and rattling through the naked branches, and 
sending down showers of icicles on our heads as we 
hurried down the broad avenue from the house. 

I can see the bright peat fire blazing on the lodge- 
keeper’s hearth as we slipped through the gate out on 
the desolate road, and heard the terrible roar of the sea 
in the distance, and as we approached nearer we heard 
the crashing of the waves as they dashed themselves in 
their mad frenzy against the rocks. How the wind buf- 
feted and battered us, twirling and twisting her skirts 
around her ankles, and as she tried to draw me nearer 
and wrap her cloak about me, how the wind caught it 
and blew it over her head, nearly strangling her ! And 
how, exhausted by her struggles, she sat down by the 
roadside drawing me closer to her and prepared to die ! 
And she would have perished had not God in His in- 
finite mercy sent Mr. Bradley along just at that time. 

His horse became frightened at us and he, stopping 
to see what it was, found us huddled together. Wrap- 


Doctor Carrington. 


76 

ping mama up in a rug, and me in the cape of his 
ulster, and putting us in the gig, he drove to the little 
inn where we had been stopping. Mama was put to 
bed and a doctor sent for. It was then that Mr. Brad- 
ley learned who mama was. In the morning Father 
Logue came and I was taken from the room, and when 
Mr. Bradley brought me back Mrs. Blake and Miss 
O’Donnel were kneeling by the bed. h'ather Logue 
was praying and holding a crucifix before mama’s 
eyes. Oh, it is too much! I cannot say any more,” 
and burying her face in her arms she sobbed aloud. 

Recovering herself after a while she begged Mrs. 
Thornton’s pardon for being so hysterical, but really 
she could not help it, though it all happened fourteen 
years ago, and she only ten at the time. 

‘‘ It is so burned into my brain that I never can for- 
get it. And to think that so much is given to me now, 
when a little then might have saved mama’s life. 
There is the letter; read it to Mr. Fitzgerald, and please 
excuse me to all the others for to-day. I really do not 
feel able to see anybody.” 

“ My dear, you shall not be annoyed by any one but 
myself, or perhaps you would like to see Marie? ” 

No, not any one for a while, please. My head 
aches and I want to rest and re-collect myself?” 

When Mrs. Thornton returned with the letter she 
found only her uncle and Colonel Thornton. Father 
Stanhope came while Mr. Fitzgerald was reading it. 

‘ So he has left her everything. She is a lucky girl, 


Miss Hamilton an Heiress. 77 

for he was a rich man and Glendale is a fine prop- 
erty.” 

Then Mrs. Thornton told them the substance of the 
story Miss Hamilton had told her. 

“ Poor girl,” exclaimed Colonel Thornton, “ to have 
her childhood blighted in that sad way.” 

“ Yes, but she found kind and affectionate friends in 
Mr. Bradley and his sister, Mrs. Blake, who, having no 
children of her own, loved her like a daughter. It 
was much against their wishes that she became a gov- 
erness, but those days are over and we lose a valued 
member of our family.” 

“ Have you any arrangements this morning, Fred? ” 

“ No, uncle, I am quite at your disposal.” 

“How about you. Father Stanhope?” 

“ You will have to hold me excused. I am engaged 
to assist Andrew this morning. Do you know, I am 
not only surprised but very much pleased at the way 
he has taught those children. I have seldom if ever 
met a class of white children who knew their Christian 
Doctrine so well as they do, and not only know it but 
understand it fairly well. His illustrations, however 
homely, are very practical.” 

“ Yes, Hugh calls the school ‘ Do-the-boys Hall.’ ” 

“ No, it is not a bit like it, and there is nothing of 
Squeers about Andrew.” 

“ You are right. Father. Cranky and all as An- 
drew is, he has a warm and kind heart, and is really 
sincere with the children and about their welfare. I 


78 


Doctor Carrington. 


thought at first that it was only a whim and that he 
would soon tire of it. But I was mistaken. He is dead 
in earnest and will stick to it, so I have ordered his list 
of school supplies for him from Natal. Andy is not an 
ignorant man. I doubt if he could not puzzle some 
of us in solving a problem from Euclid. For six years, 
he will tell you himself, how he tramped over the 
mountains barefooted to Darbey Kelly’s famous hedge 
school, carrying a ‘ Reading Made Easy ’ under one 
arm and a turf under the other, and often with an 
empty stomach, and all because he didn’t want Mr. 
D’Arcy to be ashamed of him. I can assure you he 
could have been promoted from the ranks several times, 
but he would not leave me.” 


CHAPTER XIV. 


A LETTER FROM DOCTOR CARRINGTON AND NEWS OF THE 
BOY. 

It is said that the unexpected usually happens, and 
here is a verification of it. You remember, Fred, my 
telling you some time ago about a letter I had from 
Mr. Bradley making inquiries about his nephew. Dr. 
Carrington, who had gone to Pungwe to hunt, and as 
he had not heard from him for some time, he was 
afraid he might have been killed by some marauding 
party of Zulus. Well, he has turned up all right, and 
this is what he says himself : 

' Dear Mr. Fitzgerald : 

“‘Here I am in Mapanda, and a sorry place it is; not 
a tree to give one shade and only a few trading stores 
and some mud huts. But it seemed a paradise to us at 
first after our long tramp and wanderings through the 
jungle. Near Beira we fell in with a party of Zulus 
and among them was a white man and a boy, and I 
am almost sure they were English. My companion, 
Sontos, being a Portuguese, they thought I was the 
same. I did not discover myself, as Sontos thought 
it more prudent not to, but I am pretty sure the man 

79 


8o 


Doctor Carrington. 


mistrusted me, for he would not allow the boy to an- 
swer some questions I asked him in Zulu, although he 
speaks it like a native, and he kept him out of sight 
as much as possible. The boy impressed me very 
much. He is beautifully formed, and though tanned to 
the color of mahogany, is as handsome as a young 
Apollo. 

“ ‘ He is as fleet as a deer and can throw a club with 
such unerring aim as to bring down a fleeing antelope. 
I succeeded in making a good sketch of him, although 
the man watched me like a lynx nearly all the time. 

“ ‘ Santos gathered somehow that they were going to 
Basutoland. I sincerely hope that I will not fall in 
with them again, but somehow I have a presentiment 
that I will, and it will not be for that scoundrel’s good. 
Scoundrel he is, I am sure, and that he has stolen the 
boy I am equally sure. 

‘ I thought of going home from here, but I have 
changed my mind on meeting a friend of yours, Mr. 
Aullagas from Beira, who is going to the Transvaal 
and Free States on business, and will pay you a visit. 
He has quite a large party and every one is a traveling 
arsenal; besides pistols and rifles all carry a large 
bowie-knife. We have just heard of the end of the 
Zulu war, and expect to encounter marauding parties, 
so we are quite prepared for them. Remember me 
kindly to all and believe me, 

“ ^ Yours sincerely, 

' Richard Carrington.’ ” 



The Boy D’Arcy 


Page 8o 



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A Letter from Doctor Carrington. 81 


“ Well, Fred, what do you think' of that bit of 
news ? 

“ I don’t know what to think, uncle. Do you be- 
lieve they are really coming here ? ” 

I most assuredly do, and I also think that Dodo is 
one of the party, and if so the boy will come to no harm 
while he is there, so set your mind at rest on that 
point.” 

Caxton, you know more about that part of the 
country than any of us. What do you say to their get- 
ting through ? ” 

‘‘ That will depend altogether on the route they take. 
But Aiillagas has traveled across the country so often 
and is familiar with all the outs and ins of it ; besides 
he is in sympathy with nearly all the tribes and speaks 
their lingoes, so I think there is no reasonable doubt 
about their getting through all right, unless he has con- 
traband goods and falls into the hands of the Govern- 
ment. But there is not much fear of that.” 

“ Of contraband goods? ” 

Oh, no. Aullagas doesn’t take a trip like that for 
pleasure. Carrington said he had business in the Free 
States.” 

“ Oh, yes, with a Dutchman. We all know what 
that means.” 

“ Did you ever travel through that part of the coun- 
try, Caxton? ” 

‘‘ Yes, indeed, Colonel, and I will not forget for 

some time the agonies of it. A party of us started to 
6 


82 


Doctor Carrington. 


walk from Saramento to Mapanda beneath a torrid, 
scorching sun. Once in a while we found shelter from 
the burning rays under a wild date palm, a pleasing 
feature of the landscape, varied by the fan palms with 
their green feather-like leaves and bright yellow stalks, 
covered with fruit of the same color. When ripe they 
become dark brown. We ate quantities of them but 
got precious little satisfaction from the consumption. 
Sometimes we came to a sluggish stream, nearly hid- 
den by a jungle of tropical foliage and flowers. The 
rest there was like a bit of heaven, but we could not 
stay long to enjoy it, for death lurked in every blossom 
that grew out of the sluggish stream, and our store of 
quinine was nearly gone. So we would have to trudge 
on again, and as we wearily jogged into Mapanda, I 
felt like Doctor Carrington that it was indeed a para- 
dise at the time.'^ 

How about game; much of it up there? 

“ Yes, indeed. I should say enough to satisfy most 
sportsmen. But Andy says it is nothing to Ceylon, 
where there is every animal that ever went to Adam 
for a name.” 

“ Was Andy with you on that trip? ” 

“ Indeed he was. Has he never told you anything 
about it? That’s just like him. When Andy does a 
good thing he tries to efface the action from his mem- 
ory. But something happened on that trip that I can- 
not forget. For one thing, he saved my life. I had 
contracted a fever before I started, and it gradually 


A Letter from Doctor Carrington. 83 

grew worse until I gave up and begged the others to 
go on and leave me. ‘ Leave you, indeed ! Is it for 
a meal for some hungry lion or hyena? And by the 
same token, it’s not much of a meal they would have. 
Faith, you’ll live to have a decent burial, and I’ll dance 
at your wedding long before that same. So come take 
this dose of quinine and brandy and it will soon shake 
the mollygrubs out of you, ma bhuachail.’ It was the 
same whenever he saw me lag behind — out would come 
another dose of quinine and brandy. He had stinted 
the others and did without himself so as to give it to 
me. 

Andy’s adventure with the Cockney Jew you will 
have to hear him tell. I doubt if either Lover or Carl- 
ton could do it justice.” 

“ What was it about ? ” 

“ It was about a jackass that was afterward eaten 
by some lions, and but for Andy his master would have 
shared the same fate, which he richly deserved.” 

“ Andy, Caxton says that you saved his life once by 
depriving yourself of brandy?” 

Did he now ? ” 

‘‘Yes, indeed.” 

“ Then God help the poor man, for that same must 
have bred a maggot in his brain. Sure he must be 
daft to talk like that.” 

“ He also says you had a fierce encounter with a 
Cockney Jew, and all about a jackass.” 


84 


Doctor Carrington. 


“ He did, did he ? Then, bcgorra, that same must 
must have been one of yourselves.” 

‘‘But really, Andy, won’t you tell me about it?” 

“ Go ’long wid you now, William Casserly, and don’t 
be fashing me wid your claivers. It’s in a serious mind 
ye ought all to be and trying to make your souls, now 
that ye have the chance, with Father Stanhope here, 
and not be blethering among yerselves like a lot o’ 
gowks. Now there’s Miss Hamilton, the darling, just 
hearken to her singing like a mavis with them black- 
birds, and Mr. Caxton, he playing the organ for her.” 

The doors and windows of the chapel were wide 
open and the sound had attracted a number of natives 
who stood listening with mouth and ears open to Miss 
Hamilton as she led off a class of young blacks with 
Scott’s beautiful Hymn to the Virgin. 

“ Ave Maria, maiden mild. 

Listen to a maiden’s prayer, 

Thou canst hear though from the wild, 

Thou canst save amid despair. 

Safe may we sleep beneath thy care. 

Though banish’d outcast, and reviled, 

Maiden hear a maiden’s prayer. 

Mother hear a suppliant child.” 



Two Negro Children 


Page 8 





CHAPTER XV. 


THE HUNT. 

The day of the first communion came and all of the 
household approached the altar except Miss Maguire 
and Caxton, who were not of the same faith. The 
happiness of the negro children was beyond expression. 
The little girls in white frocks and veils and wreaths 
of the velvety blossoms of the wax plant. The boys 
in white blouse and breeches and gay boutonnieres 
made a grand show. 

Mr. Caxton presided at the organ and Miss Maguire 
sang. In the afternoon there was a fine musical vesper 
service in the open air, as the little chapel was not nearly 
large enough for all who wanted to hear. An altar 
had been erected under the trees on the lawn and dec- 
orated with a wealth of flowers. The children walked 
in procession singing a hymn, Maurice leading, carry- 
ing a banner, the cords held by two little negro girls. 
Dodo, all in white, looking like an angel, had a basket 
of exquisite roses, and as she walked in front of Father 
Stanhope, she strewed them in his path as he carried 
the Blessed Sacrament to place it on the altar. As all 
the family were gifted with fine voices and joined in the 

85 


86 


Doctor Carrington. 


musical exercises, the effect was grand and elevating 
and made a wonderful impression on the natives. 

Andy’s happiness was complete. His children had 
all passed a creditable examination and Father Stan- 
hope had thanked him from the altar. But the day 
was not to pass for him without a trial. Tommy Dodd 
had been sent by Captain Sigerson with a message to 
Colonel Thornton, who had not yet been relieved of his 
command. Tommy was much impressed by the service 
and kept pestering Andy to take him as one of his 
scholars, which he refused point-blank to do, as he had 
no faith in him and told him so, but all to no purpose, 
for Tommy kept up his importuning and Andy waxed 
wroth, told him to keep out of his way, as he was then 
in a state of grace, but please God, he would not be 
long so, and if he came in his way then he would fling 
him in the well. This set Tommy to examining the 
same, and when he got an opportunity, he climbed 
down the chains to the entrance of the outlet. Return- 
ing to the house he got a lantern and followed the 
stream through the wide tunnel to where it emptied it- 
self into a pool some quarter of a mile from the house. 
Tommy thought he had made a grand discovery and 
planned to frighten Andy through it some day. 

Sigerson’s news was not encouraging. It was to 
the effect that while the Cape Parliament was shilly- 
shallying the Basutos were making the most of their 
time and w^ere erecting schnastes all up the mountain, 
regular redoubts built solidly of stones and sods, and 


The Hunt. 


87 


they were well supplied with blankets and brandy be- 
sides horses and guns by the Dutch Boers. Great 
quantities of grain and fodder are being carried up by 
the women; altogether they seem to be laying in sup- 
plies for a long siege. 

“ I doubt if the place could ever be captured except 
by stratagem ; besides they outnumber any force which 
we could bring against them. Calhoun and I have in- 
spected the place and to us it seems impregnable. The 
side opposite to the schnastes is solid rock rising per- 
pendicularly from the plane about five hundred feet and 
without a sign of vegetation on it. There are some 
deep fissures in the face of the mass of stone, but their 
sides are perfectly straight and slippery as glass. At 
the top of each the women were heaping piles of stones 
to be hurled at any one attempting to scale them. 

“ They feel their strength and are becoming very in- 
solent. A party of drunken Makalangas the other day 
carried off my washerwoman and all my shirts. Sev- 
eral other women, wives of loyal natives, were carried 
off at the same time. Calhoun, who saw the affair — 
but was unable to lend any assistance — says it was a 
most ludicrous scene. The rape of the Sabines \vas 
nothing to it. Each black rascal shouldered a wench 
amid howls and waving of arms and legs and clouds of 
black w^ool. He thinks there will be bald heads among 
some of Koejana’s braves, and it serves them right. It 
is his impression though that most of them went will- 
ingly enough. 


88 


Doctor Carrington. 


Some time ago there were hundreds of loyal na- 
tives about, but every day they are growing beautifully 
less. That they are intimidated there is not the 
slightest doubt. The witch doctor is around and pre- 
dicts dire calamities for those who will not flock to 
Moriso’s assistance. Hordes of Zulus are pouring in 
and plundering the villages of the still loyal natives. 
Their depredations are done so secretly and stealthily 
and always in the night, that it seems next to an impos- 
sibility to catch them. 

“ I understand that Miss Hamilton has returned. 
Present my best wishes to her and tell her I have just 
heard about Doctor Carrington through a Zulu rain 
doctor whom Irton picked up more dead than alive by 
the roadside. After doctoring him up this is what 
Umbaga, a native policeman, got from him. I write 
it down as he translates it to me. Carrington and 
his party were ambushed by a party of Zulus near 
the Ingalasi River, and the attacking party got the 
worst of it. Among them was Dodo, the Basuto 
chief, and a white man and boy. The white man 
was badly wounded by Doctor Carrington, who 
tried to carry off the boy. In the flght the doctor lost 
a wallet, or more likely it was carried off by the rain 
doctor; anyhow it led to this bit of information and I 
send it to you for what it is worth.” 

“ Carrington’s presentiments came true, then ? ” 

“ Yes, in a way. If he had only killed the scoundrel 
who knows what may have happened? Oh, villains 


The Hunt. 


89 


like that have as many lives as a cat. He is alive, I 
feel it, and will live to work more mischief, but if I 
only had the boy I would not care.’' 

“ Well, have patience, my son,” said Father Stan- 
hope. “ God will protect the boy and in His own good 
time restore him to you.” 

“ I hope so, Father, for I love the boy though his 
mother has embittered my whole life. If I could only 
have foreseen anything like this ! ” 

“ Be thankful you did not. A merciful Providence 
has hidden the future from us, and rest assured if it be 
for our good, we will get a fair share of good days 
in some corner of our little lives.” 

“ Oh, Father Stanhope, I want all my days to be 
good.” 

“ Then, my dear Miss Maguire, I sincerely hope they 
may be.” 

“ Thanks, that was very pretty. Now I want you to 
make to-morrow one of them by coming to the hunt 
with us. I have made a wager with Will Casserly to 
clear everything from here to the Kana’s Kraal, and 
Colonel Thornton says I can ride Fag-na-Bealah.” 

“ I am much afraid you will break your neck one of 
these days, Aileen Aroon. Why don’t you ride like 
Geraldine? ” 

Like Geraldine, forsooth. You never saw her 
coming in at a death, after following the hounds over 
the roughest piece of ground in the kingdom, and 
Doctor Carrington always at her heels. You would 


90 


Doctor Carrington. 


not think Miss Modesty would do anything like that, 
eh, Uncle D’Arcy ? 

“ Well, I suppose it runs in the blood/' 

Was there ever anything between her and Carring- 
ton?" 

I don’t think so. Colonel. He and Geraldine were 
brought up together like brother and sister. You see 
there is a big family of the Carringtons, and Dick was 
adopted by his Uncle Malcolm, and always lived at 
Glenfin. Besides, the Carringtons are not rich, and 
some say that was the reason why Geraldine fitted her- 
self for a governess, because she did not want to stand 
in the way of the family in regard to Uncle Malcolm’s 
and x\unt Blake’s money.’’ 

Geraldine is very independent, and I thought at 
one time she would not accept her grandfather’s 
money, and I am almost sorry she did, for now she will 
be trotting back to that dull hole Glendale, and I sup- 
pose I will have to go to Mollie’s at Kimberley.’’ 

Why don’t you stay here and take Miss Hamilton’s 
place? ’’ 

“ What are you saying. Colonel Thornton ? Why, 
Mrs. Thornton said only this morning that I ought to 
be in the schoolroom myself.’’ 

“ Why, Aileen Aroon, what were you doing? ’’ 
What was I doing ? Only sitting on the floor and 
showing the children how to cut paper soldiers. I 
told her that was how the teachers did in the kinder- 
garten in Germany.’’ 


The Hunt. 


91 


“ What did she say to that? ’’ 

She simply did not believe me, and told me so to 
my face. I was an Irish humbug.’^ 

And what else, Aileen Maguire ? ’’ 

Nothing else. Signor Caxton, only that you were 
a Yankee humbug.’' 

“ That is good ; two of a kind make a pair.” 

“ Don’t provoke me to say something saucy, Signor 
D’Arcy, for I want you to be judge.” 

‘‘Who are going?” 

“ Why, everybody, and Hugh Thornton is to be 
master of the hounds, of course.” 

“ And Andy?” 

“ Oh, Andy to be sure will be there. We could not 
start right without him.” 

The meet was in a field some distance from the 
house. The morning was perfect, the sun shining 
clear and bright, and not a cloud in the sky — just such 
a morning as to make one feel that life was worth 
living. 

There was little delay. Every one was in the saddle 
waiting for the start. As soon as the dogs caught the 
scent, off they went with their noses to the earth and 
their tails in the air. Andy’s view halloo rang out 
over the veldt and echoed back again from the rocky 
kopjes, sent the blood tingling through the veins, and 
started off the whole party, grooms and all, careering 
down the veldt. Andy was near Mr. D’Arcy, and Miss 
Hamilton, Colonel Thornton, Mrs. Thornton and 


92 


Doctor Carrington. 


Father Stanhope were close seconds. Aileen Maguire, 
Casserly, Hugh Thornton and Caxton led. On they 
go at a steady gallop, now disappearing behind some 
boulders, to appear again some a little in advance of the 
others. All are now in dead earnest, having warmed 
to the work. 

Hugh Thornton’s view halloo, as he cheered on the 
dogs, brought out hundreds of mounted natives, who 
joined in the chase. On reaching a broad, rapid river, 
the dogs lost the scent, and while they ran up and down 
the bank, Mister Reynard had swam across and was 
fast making his way to cover. Miss Maguire was the 
first to see him. Heading her horse for the water, and 
calling the dogs, she was soon battling with the rapid 
current, and succeeded in reaching the other side with 
the whole yelping pack at her heels. They quickly 
caught the scent and were soon in hot pursuit of their 
escaped quarry, followed closely by Miss Maguire, 
who, leaning forward over the withers of her horse, 
patted him on the neck and whispered softly to him. 
They were in perfect sympathy. Now came a stiff 
jump. Could or would she dare to take it, was the 
thought of those behind her. She did, and no jockey 
ever lifted his horse more cleverly to the hurdle or 
cleared it m.ore cleanly than she did, and was soon close 
to the dogs again when Caxton swept past her. Noth- 
ing daunted, she leaned forward and, patting her horse 
on the neck, began coaxing him as Andy, rising in his 
stirrups, sang out, ‘‘View halloo, Fag-ne-Bealah ! ” 


The Hunt. 


93 

and he did clear the way and bring her in first at the 
death. 

Some time after the hunt, Mrs. Thornton, Miss Ma- 
guire, Caxton, and a Kaffir groom rode out to the 
woods to get some vines, a parasite similar to the 
mistletoe, that grows on some of the camelthorn trees. 
They wanted them for Christmas decorations. Cax- 
ton forgot his large knife, and sent the groom back for 
it. The three then entered the woods, unconscious of 
the danger that was lurking there for them. They had 
ridden but a short distance through the ‘‘ wait-abit ” 
thorn bushes, otherwise camel’s thorn, when the ladies 
found it would be impracticable for them to proceed, 
unless they wanted to go habitless. 

Miss Maguire remarked that they were fast becom- 
ing vacillating characters, as they were '' leaving a rag 
on every bush.” So they concluded to turn back, and 
as they re-entered the clearing Caxton’s horse, by get- 
ting his right forefoot into one of the many holes with 
which the ground was covered, stumbled and threw 
him, and then set off on a canter across the open veldt. 
Caxton was not injured. Telling the ladies to wait in 
the shadow of the trees, and bestowing a few Anglo- 
Saxon idioms on his horse, he started in a prayerful 
mood in pursuit of him. 

Shortly after his leaving, three natives who had been 
lurking in the bushes crept stealthily out, and before 
they were aware, had seized the bridle of their horses, 
at the same time using insulting language and calling 


04 


Doctor Carrington. 


them opprobrious names. One ruffian tried to drag 
Miss Maguire from her horse. Throwing herself back 
and raising the loaded handle of her riding-whip, she 
brought it down with such force on the back of the 
villain's neck as to fell him to the ground. The now 
maddened horse, rearing up on his hind legs, plunged 
forward, dragging the other ruffian from his feet and 
flinging him into the thorn bushes. 

Meanwhile Mrs. Thornton was having a hard time 
with her assailant. He had mounted behind her, but 
she had recovered the reins, and though the villain kept 
prodding the poor brute with an assegai, she had suf- 
ficient strength to hold him back for some time. At 
last he bolted and made for the open veldt, followed 
closely by Miss Maguire, who had now got out her 
pistol, but was afraid to fire, for fear of hitting Mrs. 
Thornton, who, having now lost all control of the 
horse as, maddened by the prodding of the assegai, he 
galloped wildly across the plain. 

Fortunately for them, Caxton had caught his horse, 
and was fast galloping toward them. The ruffian, on 
seeing him, dropped from behind Mrs. Thornton and 
started to scud across the open. Miss Maguire was 
too quick for him, though. A well-aimed shot ter- 
minated his career, the bullet passing through his brain 
and killing him instantly. When she realized what she 
had done she became almost hysterical. 

Mrs. Thornton was much shaken up, but she soon re- 
covered herself. In all the years she had lived in 


The Hunt. 


95 


Basutoland it was the first time she had been insulted. 
She could not believe they were Basutos. The groom, 
coming up just then, confirmed her suspicions by say- 
ing that the dead man was a Zulu, and that a number 
of them were skulking in the neighboring jungle. 

Riding back to where the encounter had taken place, 
they found that the others had recovered sufficiently to 
make themselves scarce. The groom picked up a short 
spear, such as are always carried by Zulus — another 
bit of evidence that they were not Basutos. 

Giving up all thoughts about getting the mistletoe, 
they returned to the house, where the news of their en- 
counter shocked and perplexed all. Only to her uncle 
and Colonel Thornton did Mrs. Thornton confide her 
suspicions that one of their assailants was a white man. 
As he was disguised by a cape and hood of black os- 
trich feathers, she was not quite sure, although as he 
tried to drag Aileen from her horse she was almost 
certain of hearing the expression “ bloody,” and some- 
thing very vile. But it all took place so suddenly and 
lasted such a short while that it was beginning to 
appear to her like a bad dream. 

Now the question is : Could it have been Carter, and 
was it an ambush ? If so, there must be a traitor about 
the house. Mr. Fitzgerald was inclined to think the 
meeting accidental. They may have been reconnoiter- 
ing the place, and what Sebastian says about their 
lurking in the woods would account for it. 

Oh, Sebastian is as true as steel. He is a Mozam- 


96 


Doctor Carrington. 


biqiie negro. I bought him when quite young from 
a Portuguese trader, and besides, he is a good practical 
Christian and is Millie’s pet servant. He would go 
through fire and water for her and the children.” 

“ I met Koejana this morning and he told me that 
quite a number of fugitives were at his kraal, and he 
hoped they would take themselves off as they were half 
starved and eating him out of house and home. On 
my inquiring if Dodo had returned, he said he did not 
know, as his father, Moriso, had several hundred 
Baphuti up in his mountain, and that one of Dodo’s 
brothers had carried off two of Letsea’s daughters and 
would not give them up, so they were at enmity. 

‘‘ You see Moriso is not a Basuto; he is a Baphuti. 
About fifty years ago he conquered Moshesh, the then 
paramount chief of Basutoland, and became chief of 
the mountain. He is now a very old man and alto- 
gether under the influence of his sons, principally Dodo, 
who is in bad repute. But in his case I think it simply 
exemplifies the saying of giving a dog a bad name. 
As for Koejana, he is just as bad as they make them, 
and never speaks the truth except by mistake. He 
thought he was throwing sand in my eyes when he 
spoke of his being at enmity with Moriso.” 

After talking the matter over a little further it was 
decided to say nothing about Mrs. Thornton’s surmise 
to the other members of the family, but on no account 
were any of the women or children to go any distance 
from the house without a mounted escort. 


The Hunt. 


97 


Mr. Fitzgerald was becoming anxious about Doctor 
Carrington, and hoped to hear something from Siger- 
son, who was coming with some of his friends to spend 
Christmas with them. He had quite an opinion of the 
shrewdness of that boy of .Sigerson’s and felt sure he 
would be of use in ferreting out Carter, that is, if it 
was he that had been in the woods. 

7 


CHAPTER XVL 


AN ENCOUNTER IN THE DESERT. 

The morning after the encounter, Hugh Thornton, 
Caxton, Casserly, and some native boys ( all male serv- 
ants, no matter what their age, are called ‘^boys”), 
started to hunt up the fellows who had assailed Mrs. 
Thornton and Aileen. Casserly had promised Mrs. 
Thornton that she should have all the mistletoe she 
wanted, and had sent Sebastian with a wagon and 
some boys to meet them at a certain rendezvous. Se- 
bastian easily found the place on the edge of a clear- 
ing, and quite close to some trees, from whose trunks 
and upper branches tufts and tangles of the parasite 
were hanging. They outspanned the wagon and set to 
work to get the vines. It was slow work, the long, 
sharp thorns being a great drawback. They were still 
pegging away at them, when Hugh Thornton and the 
others came up. 

On their way they met some Bushmen, who told them 
there was a troop of bush bucks in the jungle to the 
left of the woods. As none had been seen in that part 
of the country for some time, they thought they would 
have a shot at them. Leaving their horses in charge 
of Sebastian, as they would be useless in the jungle, 
98 



Buck, Doe and Two Fawns. 


Page 99. 







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An Encounter in the Desert. 


99 


and looking well to their rifles, off they started. After 
tramping for two hours through the almost impene- 
trable thorn bushes, and receiving many tears and 
scratches, Casserly thought they might just as well 
give up, for it was like looking for a needle in a bundle 
of straw to hunt for anything in that thicket with- 
out a spoor. 

Pushing on a little farther, they came to a pool al- 
most hidden by reeds and high grasses. On its edge 
they found the spoor. Following it up for two hours 
more, they came to a clearing, a beautiful little glade 
with a clump of mimosa trees in the center. 

Peacefully reposing in their shade was a doe and 
two fawns. A buck was posing near them, his head 
thrown back and his nose in the air, as if he was scent- 
ing danger. It was a beautiful picture, and none had 
the heart to spoil it. Even Caxton, who had been a 
professional hunter for a while, said it would be a sin, 
nevertheless he would like to have the buck’s head for 
Mrs. Thornton. 

Casserly, whose attention had been attracted by a 
movement in the bushes opposite, had just drawn the 
notice of the others to it, as a puff of smoke curled up 
and a bullet came whistling through the air, bring- 
ing down the noble fellow. The startled doe and fawns 
scudded off, crashing through the tangled underbrush. 

Lying flat on their stomachs, and pushing their rifles 
in front of them, they awaited further results., They 
had not long to wait. Two natives came from the 


LofC. 


100 


Doctor Carrington. 


bushes and ran towards their prey. As they were about 
to sever the head, Caxton sent a bullet singing over 
them, then waited to see the effect. They dropped flat 
on the earth, and as no one else appeared, Caxton and 
the others stepped out into the open. They found the 
natives two poor half-starved wretches, both Matabeles, 
one pure Zulu, the other with an European cast of 
features, an evidence of white blood. Caxton bought 
the head, and asked the white one to carry it to the 
wagon for him. He was a bright fellow, and after 
answering several questions in Zulu, said he could 
speak English, which he did fairly well. 

He had been a servant in an English family in Natal 
for some time, but on the outbreak of the Zulu war was 
forced to return to his own country and had taken 
part in the battle of Rorke’s Drift only. After that he 
had joined a party of fugitives who were fleeing from 
the English. In the party was a witch doctor, but as 
some of his predictions did not come true. Cetewayo or- 
dered him and the boy to be killed. Through Dodo, 
the Basuto chief, and Cetewayo’s ally, they escaped. 
Afterwards he and Dodo quarreled about attacking 
some Portuguese traders they had met in the desert. 
He thought that both he and Dodo had been killed, 
for when he and his party escaped, the white man was 
in fierce encounter with an Englishman who was with 
the traders, and they were fighting to the death. 

He made his way through the mountains into Basuto- 
land, and was surprised to find the witch doctor in a 


An Encounter in the Desert. 


lOI 


Bushman’s hut on the Cornet Sprut River. He asked 
for the boy and was told he had been killed. He knew 
they were English, for he heard them speak in that 
tongue, and that they were looking for the boy’s father 
whom he had heard the man say was living somewhere 
in Zuimbabive. 

The poor wretch had evidently eaten nothing for 
some time, as he devoured everything Sebastian gave 
him. When Caxton offered payment for the head, to 
our surprise he refused to take it. He was the first 
native they had ever met whose motto was not “ Noth- 
ing for nothing, and as little as possible for sixpence.” 

Hugh Thornton, believing that he might be of some 
use, offered to take him into his service, and he jumped 
at the offer. Then he told him who he was and that the 
boy’s father was his brother, and also that he and his 
uncle would give a big reward for the recovery of the 
boy, as he did not credit Carter’s story about him being 
dead. Caxton asked him if he had not white blood. 
He answered yes, his father having been a Dutch mis- 
sionary and his mother the daughter of a Zulu heads- 
man. His father was not a success as a missionary and 
became a trader. He divorced his mother and married 
a Dutch “ vrow ” in the Transvaal. 

Yes, his mother was still living in Natal, at Bishops- 
town, with Miss Colenso, the Bishop’s sister, and he had 
lived with the Bishop’s son. The Bishop was a good 
man, and he and his sister had always been their 
friends. But having disobeyed them in joining his 


102 


Doctor Carrington. 


mother’s people, he was afraid to return, having been 
told he would be shot as a rebel. 

Hugh Thornton told him that was possibly true. 
However, if he stayed with him he would be all right. 
He did stay, and became a leading factor in the many 
conflicts that were soon to follow. 


CHAPTER XVIL 


CHRISTMAS GUESTS. 

Christmas guests began to arrive some days before 
Christmas. Among the first was Sigerson, Calhoun 
and Mr. Maurice Daly, a London correspondent and 
brother of Lieutenant Daily of the gallant Twenty- 
fourth, who was killed at the battle of Isaiidhlwana. 

Mr. Daly was one of the party who went afterwards 
to visit the battle-field, with Lieutenant-Colonel Black, 
to bury the dead, to help explain away difficulties, re- 
fute allegations, and clear reputations. 

“ That some one had blundered was too evident and 
a scapegoat must be found. A live officer was at first 
selected, but he was found to be a little too much alive, 
so a dead one was chosen. Colonel Durnford. But now 
that the battle-field has given up its secrets, and the 
dead have told their own tale, the blame rests where it 
belongs — with the commander-in-chief.'’ 

Mr. Fitzgerald had all the qualities that go to make 
a good host; frank, manly, honest, warm-hearted, 
and with the easy good breeding of a gentleman. As 
all his family were endowed with the same good qual- 
ities one could not be long under their hospitable roof 

103 


104 


Doctor Carrington. 


without feeling quite at home. Recent and impending 
events prevented it from being a very merry Christ- 
mas, but to all it was a most enjoyable and pleasant one. 
The midnight mass brought sad memories and reflec- 
tions to some, to others joy and gladness, particularly 
the children. 

It was the first Catholic service that Sigerson had 
ever been present at, and to him it was a revelation. 
The music, the flowers, the evident devotion of the wor- 
shipers and, above all, the equality of Christian feeling 
shown by the members of the family kneeling side by 
side with their servants, black and white, at the same 
altar, to receive Him who had died for all alike. 

The dinner was all a Christmas dinner could be. 
Real mistletoe was not wanting. Sir Bartle Frere had 
sent some to Mrs. Thornton with a letter of Christmas 
greetings to herself and all present. Toasts were drunk 
and replied to most happily. Mr. Fitzgerald, Father 
Stanhope, and Mr. Daly were good raconteurs and 
many a clever story and witty joke were told. Miss 
Maguire and Mr. Calhoun added their quota to the 
amusement by acting a laughable farce of an Irishman 
and a Dutch vrow,” who could not speak a word of 
English. Pat’s efforts at love-making by signs and 
gestures and endearing expressions of mavourneen and 
ma cushla ma chree seemed to have no effect on her 
Dutch phlegm and placidity. In sheer desperation he 
broke into song, and sang in fine style Gerald Griffin’s 
Aileen Aroon. 


The Christmas Dance. 











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** I knew a valley fair, Aileen Aroon, 

I knew a cottage there, Aileen Aroon, 

Far in that valley’s shade 
I knew' a gentle maid, 

F'lower of the hazel glade, Aileen Aroon. 

Who in the song so sweet, Aileen Aroon, 

Who in the dance so fleet, Aileen Aroon. 

Dear were her charms to me 
Dearer her laughter free. 

Dearest her constancy, Aileen Aroon. 

“ Were she no longer true, Aileen Aroon, 

What should her lover do, Aileen Aroon ? 

Fly with his broken chain. 

Far o’er the bounding main. 

Never to love again, Aileen Aroon. 

Youth must w'ith time decay, Aileen Aroon, 

Beauty must fade aw'ay, Aileen Aroon, 

Castles are sacked in war. 

Chieftains are scattered for. 

Truth is a fixed star, Aileen Aroon.” 

Poor Caxton was miserable during the time. That 
Calhoun was only a boy and that Aileen and he had 
known each other all their lives did not mitigate his 
suffering. But he had his innings in the dance that fol- 
lowed. Although an impromptu affair it was neverthe- 
less heartily enjoyed. 

The children were having a Christmas tree in the 
court, and Andy was St. Nicholas, and had loaded every 
one with presents. Then Dodo coaxed and wheedled 
him to bring his fiddle and play for them, and they were 
in the midst of merry-go-round when some of their 
elders came out and joined in the frolic. Caxton was 
a fine waltzer, and there had the pull on Calhoun, who 


io6 Doctor Carrington. 

could not waltz, and was lost in admiration of Cax- 
ton’s ease, grace and dexterity, as he whirled Aileen up 
and down and zigzag across the court. 

Then Andy struck up the “ Wind that Shakes the 
Barley,” and aJl joined in a reel and finished up with a 
jig to the “ Rocky Road to Dublin.” The spirit was 
so catching that even somber, strait-laced Sigerson was 
forced to join in the fun when Aileen dancing up to 
him in real conventional style begged the pleasure of 
his company. What jolly fun it was and how they en- 
joyed it, now coyly advancing and then changing till 
the court rang with the jingle of spurs as heels kept 
time to the merry music ! 

Dodo was quite disgusted by having her fun broken 
into by grown-up people, and she and Maurice loudly 
protested against it. So to content them their father 
tind Aileen had to dance with them, and Andy played 
his finest music. Dodo did her steps nicely and looked 
very cunning as she danced up to her daddy with one 
hand resting on her hip and the other coquetishly hold- 
ing up her frock. She received many bravos as she was 
carried off in triumph on her daddy’s shoulder. 

Mr. Fitzgerald began to be uneasy about Doctor 
Carrington, as nothing had been heard from Aullagas, 
and he concluded to send a message over to the Free 
States to Bodavin to see if he had heard anything. It 
was altogether very strange that Carter and a number 
of Matabeles had come through. He sincerely hoped 
nothing had happened to him. 


Sigerson and His Charger. 





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CHAPTER XVIIL 


TOMMIE DODD FORMS A PLAN. 

It was not until the morning of his departure that 
Mr. Fitzgerald bethought himself of asking Sigerson 
for the loan of his boy. He found him in the court 
feeding his big bay charger with lumps of sugar. The 
horse was a great pet, and would follow him around 
like a dog, whining for recognition. He had been 
reared by his brother for him and sent out to the Cape, 
where he had him salted, so he was free from the horse 
sickness. 

To Mr. Fitzgerald’s request for the boy, his answer 
was a thousand times yes, and he regretted he could 
not do something more. Carrington and he were 
boys together, and had always been good friends, and 
he sincerely hoped he would turn up all right, and 
felt sure he would. The grooms, bringing in the 
other horses, the hurry and bustle of departure began. 
The ladies had come out to see them off, so hand- 
shaking and farewells were in order. Calhoun, in his 
frank, boyish way, had embraced them all, and had 
just placed one foot in the stirrup prepared to mount, 
when Dodo began clamoring for more recognition. 
In a moment he had her high above his head; then 

107 


io8 Doctor Carrington. 

kissing her, he placed her in her mother’s arms. She 
leaned forward, kissed him on the forehead, and asked 
God to protect him. His eyes filled with tears at the 
benediction, and to cover his confusion, he bolted 
lightly into the saddle and dashed off after the others, 
and as he turned off into the avenue waved his hat to 
Miss Hamilton and Aileen, who had come to the porch 
to see the last of them. 

Contrary to expectations. Tommy and Andy became 
quite chummy. Andy was suffering from an old gun- 
shot wound and rheumatism in his shoulder. Tommy 
was very handy, and helped him considerably by dress- 
ing his wound and rubbing his shoulder with phos- 
phorous liniment, said liniment being a revelation to 
Tommy. One night Andy’s shoulder was very bad, 
and Tommy came to rub it for him. Never having 
used it at night, its luminous effects almost scared him 
to death, and it was only after much coaxing and per- 
suading that he was induced to use it, and then only 
after seeing Andy’s hands and shoulders apparently on 
fire and yet not burned, that he got over his fright. 
Then and there a bright idea took hold of him. 

His first visit down the well only whetted his curi- 
osity, and he had been planning to give some of the 
boys a scare, and here was just what he wanted. He 
also became a great favorite with Caxton, and as he 
was very apt and full of resources, Caxton made good 
use of him in his engineering and other experiments. 
Tommy was quite carried away with some fire-rockets, 


Tommie Dodd Forms a Plan. 109 

and wanted Caxton to give him one. He said no, and 
told him never to dare touch them, as they might ex- 
plode and kill him, and perhaps others. Tommy’s 
sense of morality in regard to other people’s property 
was quite liberal. When refused anything for the ask- 
ing, he generally helped himself, and he did so in this 
case. 

At Mr. Fitzgerald’s request, he went scouting among 
the natives to pick up some knowledge of what was 
going on, and to find out, if possible, something about 
Carter. One thing he did learn, and that quite acci- 
dentally, that a plot had been formed to poison Mr. 
Fitzgerald’s reservoir that he had for his cattle and ir- 
rigating purposes. The outlet from the well led to this 
reservoir, and as everything comes to those who wait, 
here was Tommy’s opportunity. Only to Andy did he 
tell of the plot, and much to his disgust he said Mr. 
Fitzgerald must know So that evening Mr. Fitz- 
gerald and Caxton secreted themselves in a hut near 
the pool and awaited results. 

The night was pitch dark, no moon and very few 
stars, just such a night as the plotters wished for. 
About midnight, three figures were seen stealthily 
creeping along the edge of the pool. When they 
reached the outlet from the well they stopped, doubtless 
thinking it was the spring that fed the pool. They be- 
gan to take several large bulbs of amaryllis and euphor- 
bia gum from a sack one of them had carried, and so in- 
tent were they on their work that they did not notice a 


no 


Doctor Carrington. 


movement among the grasses to their left, and not until 
a rocket went whizzing up into the sky did they look 
around, and then to stand petrified with fright at a most 
grotesque figure dancing and waving its arms and 
emitting sparks of fire from its body with every move- 
ment as it came dancing and gesticulating menacingly 
towards them. Then only did they recover some of 
their wits and take to their heels, leaving Tommy con- 
vulsed with laughter at the success of his joke. He 
had made good use of Andy’s phosphorus, and Cax- 
ton’s rocket helped him out. Caxton and Mr. Fitz- 
gerald enjoyed the fun quite as much as Tommy, and 
he rose miles in their estimation. 

The messenger returned from Bloemfontein in the 
Orange Free State. Mr. Bodavin had neither heard 
nor seen anything of Aulaggas. The family were puz 
zled. What could have happened to them ? Surely all 
could not have been murdered. Colonel Thornton was 
nearly beside himself from anxiety when a letter came 
from Aulaggas, dated Natal. 

'' Dear Mr. Fitzgerald : 

I arrived here week before last, quite ill from 
wounds received in an encounter with a band of Zulus 
near Blundi. In the attack, which took place in the 
night, I got separated from Doctor Carrington, and was 
so badly wounded in the loin with an assegai that I 
must have fainted from loss of blood, for when I awoke 
to consciousness the sun was high in the heavens. At 


Toniniy l''ri}^hlciiing the Xativcs. 






Tommie Dodd Forms a Plan. 


Ill 


first it looked as if I had been deserted, as no trace of 
the mule train or carriers were in sight. The sand had 
got into the wound and stopped the bleeding. Binding 
it up as well as I could, I crawled to the top of a rocky 
kopje and from there saw them outspanned in the valley 
below. In a short time I was discovered and taken to 
the camp, fully expecting to find Doctor Carrington 
there, but nothing had been seen or heard of him since 
the encounter. I left his horse, a blanket, some 
powder and provisions at the camp, and two Kaffirs to 
guard them and to keep a lookout for the doctor. But 
I have heard nothing from either one or the other. I 
am in hopes that he may have reached you. If so, 
kindly let me know, as I will be obliged to stay here for 
some time. He may have been carried off and kept for 
ransom, but I think that is doubtful, although two white 
men seemed to be the leaders of the band, and the last 
I saw of the doctor he was in fierce encounter with one 
of them. There was a white youth among them also, 
and my boys say he took sides with Doctor Carring- 
ton. The whole thing occurred so suddenly, and lasted 
so short a time, that were it not for this wound, which 
the doctors think will cripple me for life, I would al- 
most say the whole thing was a freak of the imagina- 
tion.’^ 

Aulaggas’ letter only increased their anxiety. 
Colonel Thornton said he now felt sure they had been 
murdered, or wandered away perhaps like Aulaggas, 


II2 


Doctor Carrington. 


fainted from loss of blood and been devoured by wild 
beasts. Miss Hamilton did not think so, and told 
them of a dream she had some time ago. She had 
dreamt the same thing for three succeeding nights, 
and it had so impressed itself on her memory that she 
could easily recognize the place if she ever came 
across it. 

‘‘ A stretch of veldt and all around the horizon 
streaked with color flushing from deep red to crimson, 
and settling down into a ragged and frayed curtain, 
looking as if it had been torn into tatters by bloody 
fingers. The colors were reflected by some gray thorn 
bushes without foliage, their long spiked branches 
throwing deep shadows on the red sand and scorched 
grass of the veldt. A train of pack-donkeys with a 
number of men, some on horseback, were making their 
way across the veldt. The animals were churning up 
the sand with their feet, causing such a cloud of dust 
that I could not recognize any of the faces, but I felt 
sure that Doctor Carrington was among them. All 
appeared pretty well fagged out when they outspanned 
near to some bushes Then a black cloud seemed to 
settle over all, and out of the blackness a figure crept 
stealthily towards another who had just ‘ off-saddled ' 
his horse and was peering into the darkness. The in- 
truder raised a short spear, and was in the act of 
throwing it when it was dashed from his grasp by an- 
other figure who had just as stealthily followed him. 
At the noise the man by the horse wheeled quickly 



Tommie Dodd Forms a Plan. 113 

around, and I clearly recognized Doctor Carrington. 
Then several other figures appeared, and a hand-to- 
hand encounter took place. Doctor Carrington and his 
assailant fighting on the outer edge. All then became 
confusion, and the scene changed to the dull gray 
of early morning. One man was lying on his face on 
the sand, and some were off in the distance, apparently 
in pursuit of others who were faintly disappearing be- 
yond the border of the horizon.’^ 

How do you read your dream. Miss Hamilton? 

“ Since hearing Aulaggas’ letter, I believe he was the 
man I saw lying on the sand, and the distant figures 
Doctor Carrington and your son. Colonel Thornton, 
in pursuit of Carter.” 

“ How can you reconcile that with the fact of Carter 
being here, and nothing having been heard from the 
doctor ? ” 

I don’t know, and can’t explain the feeling. You 
can call it by whatever name you choose, but I have 
the conviction that the doctor and your son will re- 
turn perfectly safe and quite opportunely, and nothing 
can disabuse my mind of that.” 

Her confidence seemed to inspire the others with 
hope, particularly Colonel Thornton, who afterwards 
seemed to look up to her for encouragement. Caxton, 
knowing more about that part of the country than any 
of the others, closely questioned Nicholas, Hugh 
Thornton’s new boy, about where the encounter took 
place, and was astonished to find that his description 
8 


Doctor Carrington. 


1 14 

almost tallied with that of Miss Hamilton’s, and when 
asked if he could find the place again, answered, Yes, 
easily.” He was then told that Mr. Fitzgerald and 
Colonel Thornton would give a big reward for any 
information about Doctor Carrington and the Colonel’s 
son, and when asked if he was willing to go with 
Tommy to seek it, he answered yes, and quite willing 
to start immediately. So he and Tommy began their 
preparations, Tommy not forgetting a supply of Andy’s 
liniment. He said he was going to try it on the “ pest- 
flies.” They were given letters for Doctor Carrington 
and the boy, and tokens for some Dutch Boers who 
could not read, also some orders on traders, should 
they stand in need of anything. All being ready, they 
started secretly one night with many God-speeds. So, 
while they are making their way across Natal and wan- 
dering through Zululand and part of the Transvaal, 
we will take a look at how things are going nearer 
home. 

Sigerson writes that on Thaba Bosigo, Letsea’s great 
mountain stronghold, all kinds of war ceremonies were 
being performed by the chiefs and witch doctors. The 
young Basnto warriors were being charmed and given 
war medicine, their arms and assegais, and prepared 
for war in earnest. Great war dances were being held, 
and all kinds of spells and charms used, and war ra- 
tions for three days served out by the headmen. These 
they carry around their waists, together with a tobacco 
pouch, and slung around their necks a powder horn. 


Tommie Dodd Forms a Plan. 115 

We are expecting an attack on the garrison, and 
only hope that the Cape Mounted Rifles, who are on 
their way, will arrive before them. From information 
I have had from spies, I think it would be well for you 
to be on your guard. There is no telling, as the old 
saying goes, ‘ where a blister may light.' I wish the 
ladies and children were safe at Natal, or at Bloem- 
fontein in the Free State. Don't you think you could 
induce them to go to Bodavin's for a while? Now, 
don’t think me an alarmist, for I assure you I have good 
grounds for the wish. 

“ I am more than sorry that the Cape authorities did 
not accept Colonel Thornton's services, but I suppose 
that it is the same old story of jealousy and intrigue; 
your being too honest and not politic enough to keep 
in touch with the powers that be may have had some- 
thing to do with the cause. However, I am glad that 
he has got an extension of leave, for if I am not very 
much mistaken, you will need his assistance, and that 
before long. I again advise you to be on your guard 
and not put too much confidence in any Kaffir. What- 
ever they may be in time of peace, in war they are 
treacherous and deceitful." 

Sigerson’s letter caused consternation, although Mr. 
Fitzgerald and Caxton had suspected something of the 
kind for some time, and joined earnestly with the others 
in trying to persuade the ladies to take the children 
and go over to Bloemfontein to the Bodavins' for a 
visit. Mrs. Thornton would not leave her husband, 


ii6 Doctor Carrington. 

who was ill, and neither Aileen nor Miss Hamilton 
would leave her. Miss Hamilton received a letter 
from Mr. Bradley urging her to return. Her answer 
was that, under the circumstances, she could not leave 
Mrs. Thornton, and there was another attraction that 
she had not yet fully realized. 

Tommy had been gone nearly three months, and as 
yet nothing had been heard from him. Caxton missed 
his help, he was so apt and took hold so readily, and 
was always so willing to be of use. His escapade with 
the phosphorus had given Caxton an idea, and he re- 
sumed his experimenting with electricity, and suc- 
ceeded so well that he strung an electric wire over the 
barbed wire fence around the cattle kraal, and charged 
it from a battery he located in a hut at the end of the 
court. 

A raid had been made on the kraal and some cattle 
carried off, and on a second attempt three men were 
killed and the others so thoroughly frightened by Mo- 
rena’s lightning ” that Caxton felt sure a third and 
other attempt would not be made. 

Things looked more threatening every day. The 
chiefs flatly refused to give up their arms, saying with 
some justice that their young men had earned them 
at the Kimberley diamond fields, taking guns in lieu 
of money wages, and if the Government wanted them 
they must come and take them. The young warriors 
are spoiling for a fight, and the chiefs and headmen 
have all they can do to keep them from being the ag- 


Tommie Dodd Forms a Plan. 117 

gressors. The|y disclaim all responsibility .for the 
raids on the villages and the theft of cattle, and say 
that they are made by Zulus and Hottentots under the 
lead of a renegade white man. 

Mr. Fitzgerald had two Maxim guns brought and 
planted on the balcony in front of the house, and every 
precaution taken for the protection of his family — not 
that he anticipated any trouble, but he believed in the 
old saying, that ‘‘ an ounce of prevention is better than 
a pound of cure.” 

At last news was received from the lost ones. Nich- 
olas returned with letters from Doctor Carrington and 
D’Arcy, as we will now call him by his proper name. 
Tommy and he found them after many wanderings at 
Eands Kopje, on the Tulaga River, where they were 
being kindly treated by a Dutchman and his wife. He 
had found them wandering in the open veldt, the doc- 
tor almost blind and half-demented from hunger and 
exposure. D'Arcy kept up better, being more inured 
to that kind of hardship. 

It seems that when the doctor was attacked by Car- 
ter, for it was he, D’Arcy came to his assistance. He 
had become tired of Carter, and was getting afraid of 
him. So, when he recognized the doctor, he was de- 
termined to seek his protection, and was awaiting an 
opportunity to do so when he espied Carter stealing 
to the camp and followed him, thereby saving the doc- 
tor’s life. After the general fight, the doctor followed 
up Carter and another renegade white man, who were 


ii8 


Doctor Carrington. 


trying to carry off D’Arcy. They had bound his arms 
close to his side and were dragging him along. Carter 
was badly wounded, and told the other to kill the boy 
sooner than give him up, and no doubt would have 
done so had he not got one of his arms free and tripped 
up his captors just as the doctor and two Kaffirs came 
up. Carter begged for mercy, and at D’Arcy’s request 
the doctor let them go. 

The sun was then scorchingly hot, so they concluded 
to seek shelter from it in the shade of some bushes by 
the dry bed of a river, in which were some puddles of 
stagnant water. The doctor becoming ill from a 
wound in his head, one of the Kaffirs was sent back to 
the camp for assistance. He did not return, and to- 
wards morning, the doctor feeling a little better, it 
was thought best to try to reach the camp before the 
great heat of the day began. He being still weak 
from loss of blood, their progress was slow, and it was 
late the next night when they reached the camp, to 
find it deserted. 

Their disappointment was bitter, the doctor was ex- 
hausted and unable to go further. It was deemed best 
to spend the night there, and see what the morning 
would bring forth. So D’Arcy and the Kaffir started 
to look for sticks to make a fire. In their hunt they 
came across a donkey entangled in the long thorns. 
His pack was still on his back, and on being opened was 
found to contain, among other things, cooking utensils, 
tea, and some cans of biscuit. While they were turning 


The Donkey in the Thicket. 




Tommie Dodd Forms a Plan. 119 

its contents, two Kaffirs came up, who doubtless had 
stolen the donkey and hid him in the bushes. 

One of them proved to be the fellow that had been 
sent back to camp. On being questioned as to why he 
did not return, he said he could not find the way, and 
had been wandering around ever since. Finally, he 
confessed that he thought the doctor would die, and 
that the others could find their way without him. The 
doctor offered to share the contents of the pack with 
them if they would get some water. They did, and 
brought two skins or bags full. 

D’Arcy then washed and dressed the doctor’s wound 
and bandaged it up with a part of his shirt, and after 
drinking some hot tea, he felt much better, and decided 
not to follow up the train, but to return to Delagoa 
Bay and there take the steamer to Durban. The two 
Kaffirs offered to accompany them, saying they knew 
the way quite well, but on the third night they de- 
camped, taking all the pots and pans, and, worst of all, 
the doctor’s pocket compass, with them, leaving them 
in a pitiful and hopeless state, with nothing but the sun 
to guide them. Proceeding as well as they could for 
two days, they followed a spoor that brought them to 
a pool of muddy and polluted water, but such as it was, 
it seemed like a gift from heaven, as their throats and 
tongues were so parched and dry that speech had be- 
come painful. 

Straining some through a cloth for the doctor, who 
was in a high fever, and wetting the bandages on his 


120 


Doctor Carrington. 


head, they then started a fire and made some tea, as 
fortunately the thieves had overlooked one kettle. 
Making the doctor as comfortable as possible under 
the circumstances, they prepared to pass the night, and 
in the morning began again their weary tramp, the 
doctor mounted on the donkey, D’Arcy and the Kaffir 
trudging along by his side and on the lookout for 
game. About noon D’Arcy shot a spring buck, and it 
was a Gcd-send, as their biscuits were nearly gone. 
They had a grand feast, and outspanned for the night 
by a pool at the foot of a stony ridge of mountains 
covered with dark green bushes. Very little sleep was 
got, however, for the dolorous growls of the hyena 
and jackal made night hideous. The doctor remarked 
that the roar of the lion was all that was necessary to 
make the concert complete. 

If they were as sleepy and tired as I am,” said 
D’Arcy, they would find something else to do.” 

Next day they entered a winding glen or pass 
through the mountain. D’Arcy climbed to the top of a 
stony kopje to get a view of the surrounding country. 
Away to the east he thought he saw smoke rising from 
a forest, and a river glinting through it. He was not 
quite sure and called the Kaffir. The sound had 
scarcely left his lips when he was surrounded by a troop 
of baboons, grunting and springing from boulder to 
boulder, pouting their mouths and drawing the skin of 
their foreheads and looking very threatening. He par- 
ried them off with his gun. He knew their character 


In the Desert. 




1 - 



1 ^ 


p ■<• -« ^ • 









4 




Tommie Dodd Forms a Plan. 


I2I 


too well to fire, for if he did he would be skinned alive 
in five minutes. They followed him to the bottom of 
the hill, where they held a council about what next they 
were goin^ to do. 

The Kaffir thought the smoke, if it was smoke, came 
from a mission station. Anyhow they would make for 
the river, as the doctor’s fever was getting worse and 
they must find some habitation soon. The grass was 
sweet in the glen and Neddie had cropped it well. 
Some was gathered for his further use, as much de- 
pended on him. Keeping as much as possible in the 
shade of the mountain, they made for the river. But 
the distance seemed to lengthen as they went, and the 
heat became intense. The sand seemed to be on fire and 
the heat seemed to burn into their very brains. Nature 
could not stand it much longer. The doctor begged 
them to try to save themselves and leave him. That 
D’Arcy refused to do, saying that if they were to perish 
it would be together. But the good God ordained 
otherwise. 

The shadow of the mountain had crept out to them, 
so gathering their scattered wits together they crept 
closer to it and found a cave in one of its deep fissures 
that had evidently been a habitation. Scattered about 
were several gourds and an earthen pot, and in one 
corner a pile of crows’ nests. 

They had not been long in the cave when the distant 
roll of thunder was heard, and it kept repeating itself 
nearer and nearer until at last it seemed to be rending 


122 


Doctor Carrington. 


the mountain asunder. The lightning played many 
mad pranks about the mouth of the cave, lighting up 
every nook and corner of it and at times looking as if 
it wished to, but dare not enter. At last came the wel- 
come rain, at which D’Arcy and the Kaffir danced and 
wept for joy. The doctor in his weak state could not 
control the tears that welled up to his eyes as he humbly 
thanked the good God. Every vessel that the cave 
contained was brought out to catch the precious fluid. 
D’Arcy attended to the doctor first, satisfying himself 
for the while with what he could catch on his tongue. 

A fire was started from the crows’ nests, for although 
the days were scorch ingly hot the nights were bitterly 
cold. Some tea was made for the doctor, and as very 
little either of it or of the biscuits were left, they were 
saved for him, D'Arcy and the Kaffir satisfying their 
hunger with water. In the night the doctor became 
quite delirious and tried to tear the bandages from his 
head, and it was only by keeping them wet that he was 
quieted. Towards morning he slept and awoke quite 
conscious, insisting on D’Arcy and the Kaffir sharing 
the last biscuit with him. 

Then D’Arcy tightened his belt and put his last 
charge in the doctor’s rifle and went out in the hopes 
of finding something to shoot. Ele followed a spoor 
that led from the cave and it brought him to a kraal 
high up on the mountain, where he found some women, 
an old man, and two boys, who were eating millet por- 
ridge out of a pot. He asked for some food, but like 


Tommie Dodd Forms a Plan. 123 

all Kaffirs, it was nothing for nothing. Taking a 
charm from his neck he offered it to one of the women 
for a bowl of the porridge. After much haggling it 
was accepted. Then he wanted to buy some milk and 
eggs for the doctor and persuaded one of the boys and 
the old man to carry them to the cave, but nothing 
coud make them enter. The appearance of the donkey 
frightened them almost to death. They could not make 
out what kind of a beast it was. 

The doctor inquired about the mission station and 
offered to pay them well to go there and bring assist- 
ance. After much consulting, the old man offered to 
send one of the boys if D’Arcy would go with him. 
That the doctor would not consent to. He did not like 
the old fellow’s sinister expression. Then they wanted 
his rifle. That would not be given either. D’Arcy 
saw through their designs. They thought the doctor 
would die, and they imagined that there was great 
wealth in the donkey’s pack, and he being out of the 
way it would be theirs, as the Kaffir, being a Griqua, 
did not count. He told them so and that they had big 
treasures they were taking to the mission, but that they 
were under the protection of the donkey and it would 
be sure death to any but the doctor or him to touch 
them, and as if to confirm his words the donkey began 
to bray. 

That settled the matter, giving them a wholesome 
dread of him, and great respect for D’Arcy, when he 
told them he was the son and pupil of a celebrated witch 


124 


Doctor Carrington. 


doctor, and could and would work direful vengeance 
on them if they attempted to injure the doctor. D’Arcy 
and the doctor then talked the matter over and came 
to the conclusion that it would be best to go with the 
guides. They had had enough of the treachery of the 
Zulus to trust them again. 

The few days’ rest and food had benefited the doc- 
tor much, and D’Arcy and the Kaffir had regained 
their strength in the same way. Neddie, too, had fared 
well. The boys, to propitiate him, brought him quan- 
tities of wild millet. 

Arranging so as to keep to the river and travel at 
night, they felt that they could manage. Their progress 
was slow so as not to fatigue the doctor. But it did 
not suit the guides, however, who were anxious to reach 
their destination and get their rewards. At last, be- 
coming impatient, they silently departed while the 
others were asleep, taking all their food, the doctor’s 
rifle and everything else they could lay their hands on, 
leaving them more helpless than ever before. They 
were then obliged to travel by day, but kept close to the 
river. The third night, they rested by a waterfall and 
had a former concert repeated. The dismal howls of 
hyenas so worked on the doctor’s nerves as to bring on 
another attack of delirium. He imagined the howls 
of the hyena were the Banshee and it took all D’Arcy’s 
and the Kaffir’s strength to hold him from jumping 
into the whirlpool at the foot of the falls. At last 
he broke away from them, and tearing the bandadges 


Tommie Dodd Forms a Plan. 


125 


from his head dashed wildly out into the open veldt. 
D’Arcy was about giving up in despair when Provi- 
dence again came to their assistance by way of a Dutch 
farmer who was crossing the veldt in his ox-cart. He 
took all in at a glance, and without asking questions 
got them into his cart and hurried to his home, which 
fortunately was not far distant, and it was there that 
Tommy found them. 

The doctor was then improving fast and able to ride 
out every day on Neddie, who became quite a pet with 
Tommy, who wanted to bring him home for Miss Dodo. 
That the doctor and D’Arcy were delighted to learn of 
their relationship goes without saying, the doctor being 
own cousin to Colonel Thornton’s mother. Mr. Fitz- 
gerald’s half-sister, and D’Arcy ’s grandmother. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


THE ATTACK ON MR. FITZGERALD’S HOUSE. 

To know that the doctor and D’Arcy were safe was 
a great relief to the people of Grainan Hill. The re- 
bellion was now fairly on and their anxiety for the 
present was for their own protection. An attack had 
been made on the Government station at Mohal’s Hoke, 
the place burned to the ground, and the resident mag- 
istrate and all his family killed. Assistance came too 
late; the rebels had cut the telegraph wires and then 
retreated to Thaba Bosigo mountain. 

Contrary to Caxton’s expectations, another attempt 
was made to burn the cattle kraal. He had got an 
inkling of it though, and turned on a powerful current 
of electricity. Some of them tried to cut the wires 
with their assegais and were held fast and kept there as 
an example and object lesson to the others. They had 
at first tried to set fire to the kraal by tossing burning 
brands with their spears on the thatched roofs, but Cax- 
ton had anticipated them by having the thatch well 
soaked with water. 

Seven or eight weeks were passed in terrible sus- 
pense, each night expecting an attack, but as night suc- 
ceeded night and nothing happened they began to con- 
126 


The Attack on Mr. Fitzgerald’s House. 127 

gratulate themselves that Caxton’s last achievement 
had thoroughly frightened them, and besides, Hugh 
Thornton was now quite convalescent and things took 
on a more cheerful look. 

Andy longed for Tommy Dodd to come back. He 
had had some wonderful dreams lately and was much 
perturbed in mind. Casserly accused him of wanting 
to pose as a wizard doctor, and asked him to toss up 
the dolasses for him and tell his fortune. 

Ye have a wonderful appetite for the unknown, 
William Casserly.” 

‘‘ Immense, Andy, can’t you tell me something about 
it?” 

“ Mabbie I can an’ mabbie I can’t. Anyhow, I’ll 
give ye a bit o’ advice that was once given to a Coast 
Guard captain, an’ more be token a relation of your ane, 
and no saint either, God rest his soul. An auld 
spaewife told him to keep his eyes an’ ears open.” 

And did he do it?” 

“ It appear no, for not long after he was found mur- 
dered in his bed.” 

Confound you, Andy, I’ll be dreaming of that all 
night.” 

“ Say yer prayers then before ye go to bed an’ ask 
God to keep all foolish dreams away from ye.” 

Come now, Andy, tell me something nice to keep 
me from thinking of that beastly thing.” 

“ Oh, then, may the Lord give ye a sight o’ yerself, 
William Casserly, and lead ye out of the cloudland that 


128 


Doctor Carrington. 


ye are in, ye daft gowk. Ganging around with yer 
heart or liver, or whatever else ye call it, on yer sleeve, 
for every jackdaw to pick it.” 

“Andy, you are a dreadful man; the witch doctor 
is not a circumstance to you.” 

“ Is that so, now. Miss Aileen ? ” 

“ Yes, it is so.” 

“ Yet ril be bound ye want yer fortune told? ” 

“ To be sure I do.” 

“ O thin, it is easily done. Ye will find it in a hut at 
the end of the court, six feet o’ it an’ a head that holds 
more knowledge than all the Royal colleges put to- 
gether.” 

Why, Andy, what have I done that you would dis- 
pose of me in such a summary way to that length of 
limb coming up the court ? ” 

“ Aye, and it’s the lucky girl ye are, mavourneen, 
to get the same.” 

“ Thanks, Andy, but that remains to be seen.” 

“ Perhaps ye are right, Mr. Caxton, but in my young 
days we helped the future to take care o’ itself.” 

“ And helped the future of others much more than 
you did your own. I’ll be bound.” 

“ Andy, I had a strange dream, last night.” 

“ Did ve now? ” 

“ Yes, and I do believe that living so long in this 
land of witchcraft has made me superstitious.” 

“ Sure, I thought ye came from Salem where they 
burned witches.” 


The Attack on Mr. Fitzgerald’s House. 129 


'' You have a good memory, Andy.” 

” Aye, I never forget a friend or foe.” 

“ You and I have been pretty good friends, Andy, 
and stood by each other in more than one fight.” 

“ That we have, me boy, and if my mind don’t mis- 
give me very much we’ll do it again and that before 
very long.” 

“ That is just as I feel about it. I awoke in a fright 
this morning, believing the big baobab tree to be on 
fire and all my efforts to put it out were unavailing as 
some Kaffirs, who were on top of the cook’s quarters, 
kept tossing burning brands into it. I know it is per- 
fectly ridiculous to let such nonsense bother me, never- 
theless I am going to keep an eye on that end of the 
court.” 

‘‘ Thin ye will just be doing what I hae done for the 
last three nights. Ye mind the first night William 
Casserly was on guard? Well, that night I could not 
sleep, so I strolled out into the court an’ found the 
guard leaning against the well fast asleep. He said he 
was not, but that is neither here nor there. What both- 
ered me was I thought I saw a black face peeping over 
the gate by your workshop.” 

“ Why have you not spoken of that before, Andy? ” 
Well, ye see I’d hae to speak about Casserly, and 
that would not be nice.” 

‘‘ Then you have kept guard every night since and 
let him sleep. I’ll be bound. I wonder if there are many 
like you in the world, Andy, who are ready at all times 
9 


130 


Doctor Carrington. 


to sacrifice themselves for their friends? You have 
not seen anything since ? ” 

“ No, but I hae been thinking would it no be well 
to put a wire around the edge of the tile roof? 

“ That is a capital idea, Andy, and I’ll think it over,’’ 
and he did, but it was too late. 

That night Colonel Thornton was on guard in front 
of the house. Caxton came out to have a smoke with 
him. He was anxious and uneasy and could not sleep. 
They sat for sometime in the deep shadow of the pil- 
lars talking about their elephant-hunting adventures in 
India and Africa. Caxton was telling about a narrow 
escape he had when on the trail of some elephants. He 
had followed their spoor for two days and at last came 
up to them in a wood of those gray-colored trees, the 
bark of whose trunks singularly resembles their hides. 
They were crashing down young trees and breaking 
off branches in every direction and feeding on them. 

One of the boys carried my elephant gun. I told 
him to load it and put in a heavy charge, and he did 
with a vengeance. Tossing up a handful of sand to see 
how the wind lay, I found it was not blowing towards 
them and that they could not catch my scent. I handed 
my rifle to the boy, and took the gun and crawled up a 
little closer, selecting one who was feeding outside. I 
aim.ed for the shoulder. The gun went off and so did 
I. I was lifted clear from the ground and twirled 
around in the air and fell flat with my face in the sand 
while the gun was carried yards beyond me.” 


The Attack on Mr. Fitzgerald’s House. 13 1 

Stopping suddenly and grasping the Colonel’s arm 
he pointed to the ravine, where in the shadow of the 
kopje was a black mass moving toward them. Quickly 
and quietly they gave the alarm, then took their places 
by the guns, still keeping in the shadow of the pillars. 
On they came, a solid mass of black humanity. The 
Colonel waited until they were within a few feet of 
them, then said ‘^Fire!” and the two guns went off 
simultaneously, mowing down the front rank, which 
was quickly taken by another, to share the same fate. 
They did not seem to have any sense of fear, for as 
those in front fell, their places were soon filled by 
others. 

While the Colonel and Caxton with the assistance 
of some of the servants were taking care of the front 
of the house, the other members of the family were hav- 
ing a hard struggle in the court. Andy, who had been 
on the alert, first caught sight of the black heads as 
they began to clamber on the roof of the quarters and 
had given the alarm before Caxton. 

Mr. Fitzgerald, though half dressed, had buckled on 
his sword-belt, and Andy had done likewise, and for 
the present were old cavalry men again. Hugh Thorn- 
ton, Casserly, Sebastian and Nicholas rallied around 
them, and the court that had so lately rung with the 
jingle of spurs to the strains of merry music, now re- 
sounded with the clashing of steel and the battle-cry of 
the Basutos as they tumbled into the court. They got 
a warm reception though from the little party who 


132 


Doctor Carrington. 


stood shoulder to shoulder and poured volley after vol- 
ley into them. But it was like firing into an anthill. 
They kept swarming out and forcing the brave de- 
fenders back towards the house where Father Stanhope 
was keeping guard over the women and children, and 
chafing under the restraint that kept him from joining 
the others. At last he could stand it no longer. Being 
an old artilleryman, he hastened to relieve Caxton, 
who was a welcome addition to the little group who 
were frightened for their lives. 

One fellow seemed to single out Mr. Fitzgerald and 
attacked him fiercely with assegai. He had drawn his 
sword and was using it with all his old-time vigor. 
The fellow became exasperated, dropped his shield and 
came at him savagely. Mr. Fitzgerald parried off his 
thrusts. He was now on the defensive and retreating 
slowly to the house when Andy came to his assistance, 
and with one sweep of his sword slashed off the fel- 
low’s arm at the shoulder. Then the two old comrades 
stood shoulder to shoulder and each seemed to gain 
strength from the other. 

It was now hand-to-hand fighting. Caxton and the 
others had gained the baobab tree and were defending 
themselves bravely against tremendous odds. The 
Kaffirs were fighting to the death. A stalwart fellow 
jumped the wall and rushed at Mr. Fitzgerald with an 
uplifted battle-ax. His white head seemed to be a 
target for them. With a cry that rang above all the 
din Andy threw himself in front of his master, but the 


The Attack on Mr. Fitzgerald’s House. 133 


ax did not fall where it was intended. A bullet fired 
from the edge of the well stopped its course and sent 
the holder to Hades. 

A wild hurrah followed the shot, for Tommy Dodd 
was closely followed by D’Arcy and Doctor Carring- 
ton, who fired as they swung themselves out of the well. 
The Kaffirs scampered back over the roofs carrying 
their wounded with them. They thought, and cor- 
rectly so, that the military were coming. Tommy and 
his party had heard the firing some distance from the 
house, and surmising what it was the doctor sent one 
of the men to warn Sigerson, and he was now on the 
way. 

Tommy, finding the house surrounded, bethought 
him of the well, and so led the way followed by D’Arcy 
and the doctor. The besiegers in front beat a hasty 
retreat, carrying off their dead and the last disappeared 
through the ravine as the sound of the bugle of the 
quickly advancing column in command of Sigerson was 
heard. 

Mr. Fitzgerald and Andy were the only ones who 
were badly wounded, Andy the most severely. He 
had received several bad slashes in defending Mr. 
D’Arcy, and it was pitiful to see him with the tears 
rolling down his furrowed cheeks insisting that Mr. 
D’Arcy be attended to first. 

Colonel Thornton could scarcely believe his senses 
that the tall bronzed lad was his son. Doctor Carring- 
ton was right in saying that he was beautifully formed. 


134 


Doctor Carrington. 


He certainly did look like a young Apollo as he stood 
by the side of the well, eagerly scanning each face and 
figure until he recognized his father. Then with an 

Oh, papa,’’ he fairly sprang into his arms. Colonel 
Thornton, like most Englishmen, disliked making a 
show of his affections, so keeping his arm around the 
boy, he led the way into the house and up to his room, 
and for the present we will leave them there. 

Altogether it was a hapy and joyful reunion of 
friends, and in the relaxation from the intense strain 
of the past hours, expressions of affection and endear- 
ment that at other times would be considered bad form 
were freely indulged in. Andy, D’Arcy and Tommy 
were the heroes of the hour. Tommy, with his usual 
sangfroid, accepted all as his just due, and busied 
himself about Andy as Doctor Carrington dressed his 
wounds. 

It was a united, happy and grateful family that met 
around the table that evening, and to Father Stan- 
hope’s prayer of thanksgiving there was a sincere 
Amen. Afterwards, at Miss Hamilton’s request. Doc- 
tor Carrington sang Tom Moore’s beautiful song: 

“ And doth not a meeting like this make amends 

For all the long years Fve been wandering away, 

To see thus around me my youth’s early friends, 

As smiling and kind as in that happy day.” 


D’Arcy became a great favorite, particularly with 
the children, and Dodo’s willing slave. The story of 


The Attack on Mr. Fitzgerald’s House. 135 

his life with Carter and among the Zulus had to be told 
ovxr and over again. 

Carter, who seemed to have as many lives as a cat, 
escaped again, but with only one arm, for it was he that 
Andy deprived of that limb. 

Miss Hamilton was to return with Doctor Carring- 
ton, and Aileen was going with her, and was to be 
married from her home, and if things were settled by 
the spring, all were to go over to the wedding. Col- 
onel Thornton for some time studiously avoided Miss 
Hamilton, and she appreciated it but at the same time 
felt piqued. All the others were so taken up by recent 
events and the coming departures that with the excep- 
tion of Adrs. Thornton they did not notice it. 

On the morning of departure he was the last to say 
farewell. But it was 

“ In silence they parted, for neither could speak. 

But the tremulous lip and the fast-fading cheek 
'J'o both were betraying what neither could tell, 

How deep was the pang of the silent farewell.” 


Shortly after Miss Hamilton’s departure the war 
was brought to an end. At almost every point the co- 
lonial forces were baffled and at last, after the expendi- 
ture of four million sterling, the Government, its aim 
still unaccomplished, was constrained to make terms 
with the Basutos, who not ten years before had been 
severely beaten by the Orange Free State. Report has 
it that all white people will be obliged to leave Basuto- 


Doctor Carrington. 


136 

land, and if that be true, Miss Hamilton will in all 
probability have some of her friends for neighbors. 
Andy for one would be delighted, for as he expressed 
it, he “ would like to have his old bones rest with 
those of his forebearers.” But wherever David goes 
there also will go Jonathan. Only death can part Andy 
from Mr. D’Arcy. They are foster-brothers, and some 
generations ago were of the same blood. The old 
strain comes out strong in Andy, and the family motto 
“ Ferme en Foi ” never had a truer exponent. 

Some months after Miss Hamilton’s departure, the 
family of Grainan Hill were again assembled on the 
broad porch facing the flower garden and engaged in 
discussing the latest news from Europe, particularly 
some parts of one of Caxton’s letters. 

Thanks to the rapid growth of vegetation and the 
skill of the gardener, all traces of the recent conflict 
had disappeared, and the shrubs, plants and vines were 
again in full bloom, giving pleasure to the eye, and 
scenting the air with their delicate perfume. 

The parts of the letter that interested them most was 
about what had occurred on the steamer going over. 

‘‘ There was a motley crowd aboard, wounded offi- 
cers invalided home on leave, newspaper correspond- 
ents, a Hungarian opera troop, a colonial bishop and a 
number of lucky and unlucky fortune-hunters from the 
diamond and gold mines. 

“ The old adage that birds of a feather flock together 


The Attack on Mr. Fitzgerald’s House. 137 


was quite true in regard to the correspondents, and a 
right jolly flock they were. They adopted me straight 
off when I told them I had tried a ’prentice hand at 
the craft. Among them was an American, and, as 
Andy would say, he took quite a shanack to me from 
the first. 

“ They were all men of world-wide experience, and 
some of their reminiscences were not only racy but 
most interesting. 

‘‘ One night a few had been telling how and why they 
had become newspaper men. My New York friend 
said he started out to be a lawyer, and as a failure he 
was a grand success. 

His brother, however, began as a reporter, and is 
now a prominent lawyer and head of a flourishing law 
firm. It was partly through him that he went out to 
South Africa to hunt up a chap named Leroy, who had 
inherited some millions from an uncle who had recently 
died in New Mexico, but on account of the war he had 
to forego the search and leave it to others, thereby los- 
ing a big commission. 

Imagine my astonishment on making some in- 
quiries to find myself the heir in question. My correct 
name is Leo Caxton Leroy. I had dropped the Leroy, 
or rather I had been curtailed of it by others, and as 
Caxton served me well enough, I let it go at that. I 
will give more particulars in my next. 

“ Now as to the Hungarians, there was a woman 
with them that impressed me very much. Her face 


Doctor Carrington. 


138 

seemed to haunt me by its familiar resemblance to some 
one I had known. 

“ A light was, however, shed on it by Macknab, one 
of the correspondents, who said he knew her in Vienna 
several years ago, where she created a perfect fuior 
by her singing. 

“ It was said she had married an Englishman. Any- 
how, she disappeared for a while to return with a twin 
sister, and again take continental Europe by storm. 
One report had it that one of the sisters died; another 
was that she married a Polish nobleman, and that both 
were arrested as being connected with some conspiracy 
in Russia and sent into exile. 

‘‘ The thing bothered me a good bit, and I spoke to- 
Daly about it. (You remember him, he was one of 
the Christmas guests.) He said he would not take 
much stock in what Macknab said, as he was as big a 
gossip as an old woman. 

“ However he said when he got to London he would 
make inquiries at the Russian Embassy, where he had a 
friend who would find out all about it for him. 

As the Colonel was at Cape Town, Mr. Fitzgerald 
thought best not to inform him until his return. He 
had taken the boy with him as he could not bear to 
have him out of his sight for any length of time.’’ 


CHAPTER XX. 


THE END OF THE WAR. 

At the urgent request of Lerthodia, Letsea and some 
other chiefs, the Government had reappointed Mr. Fitz- 
gerald as resident magistrate, and things were now 
going on nearly as they had before the rebellion. Ex- 
iles were returning and Dodo was expected, as Mr. 
Fitzgerald had interceded for him. 

The glory and glamour of the war, however, has not 
all died out, and it is quite amusing to watch some of 
the chiefs strutting around in borrowed feathers. 

One decked out in a dragoon’s helmet, a sword-belt 
and a pair of spurs fastened to his bare heels seemed to 
think himself quite a swell. They appear to be quite 
delighted when they can get some part of an officer’s 
uniform to array themselves in, and the effect is gen- 
erally very mirth-provoking. 

On the face of it, it certainly appears strange to sec 
what is called the Switzerland of South Africa given 
up to such a people. The scenery is equal to any- 
thing of its kind in Europe, and among the higher 
mountains the climate is delightful. The air is brac- 
ing and invigorating. All kinds of cereals, fruits and 

139 


140 


Doctor Carrington. 


vegetables can be grown, and if the Kaffir was not so 
lazy, and could be taught husbandry, Basutoland would 
in time become a veritable Paradise. 

Mr. Fitzgerald had been requested by the Home 
Government to select some bright intelligent youths to 
be sent to England, where they would be placed under 
the instruction of expert agriculturists, and thoroughly 
trained, then sent back to teach their fellow country- 
men. 

He wanted Tommy Dodd and Nicholas to go. 
Nicholas would be delighted to go, but Tommy could 
not be persuaded to leave Andy, who had never fully 
recovered from the effects of the wounds received in 
defending Mr. Fitzgerald. 

He had been over to Bloemfontein in the Orange 
Free State, and there was introduced to Herr Von 
Loon, the new teacher, fresh from Germany, a disciple 
of Herbart’s and a follower of all his methods. 

Andy, like most Irishmen, had great reverence for 
learning, and consequently was much impressed by Von 
Loon’s display of it, but when he began a learned dis- 
sertation of Herbart’s psychology and its pedagogical 
and ethical effects on the soul, that was just a little too 
much for him. 

In speaking of it afterwards, he said at the time he 
felt as if the inside of his head was turning into an ant- 
hill. What effect his teaching would ultimately have 
on the young Boers he could only surmise, but from 
what Mr. Bodavin told him, it must at present be quite 


The End of the War. 


141 

lively, as Principal Offerman was kept pretty busy ad- 
ministering applications of ox-hide to help him along 
in the culture of the sensibilities, arguing that if the 
soul has direct influence on the body, the body has the 
same on the soul. 


CHAPTER XXL 


COLONEL THORNTON HEARS ABOUT HIS WIFE. 

Colonel Thornton was not much surprised at the 
news in Caxton’s letter, as he had heard about the troop 
in Cape Town. It had not been a success there nor at 
Natal, partly on account of the war and failure of 
Madame Zelano to appear, it was said through ill- 
health. Her picture on the advertisements certainly 
looked like his wife, but he could not swear it was she. 
Yes, he had heard of her having a twin sister, but that 
she was an invalid from childhood. 

The advertisement also announced that she was to 
appear in London and that was entirely against the 
contract with him. When she left, he had, through 
his lawyer, entered into an agreement with her that 
she was not to appear on the stage in England, nor at 
any time nor any place under his name. By doing so 
she would forfeit the one thousand pounds a year he 
had agreed to pay her. He was afraid there was some- 
thing behind it. However, he must only wait to see 
what the next turn of the wheel would bring forth. 

He had not long to wait, for among the next mail 
was a letter from his lawyer telling him how Madame 
Zelano had called on him and said that she understood 
142 


Colonel Thornton Hears About his Wife. 143 


the Colonel wished to marry a rich heiress, and if he 
would agree to pay her twenty thousand pounds, she 
could and would free him from all legal entanglements. 
Her health was not good and she wished to retire to 
her home in Hungary. If not she would appear under 
his name, not only in London but in every town in 
the British Isles. 

‘‘ Well, that’s a pretty how-do-you-do ! And what 
are you going to do about it, my boy ? ” 

‘‘ At present I can’t think of anything, uncle.” 

“ You surely can’t think of giving her the money, 
Fred?” 

“ Certainly not, Millie.” 

“ Do you know I somehow believe she is not your 
wife at all, or ever has been.” 

I once thought the same myself, Millie, but a let- 
ter from my lawyer some time ago disillusioned me of 
that. They had nade a diligent search all through 
the continent, and could find nothing to make it ille- 
gal.” 

Then let her go ahead, for it’s my honest belief that 
she is only bluffing. She knows how you shrink from 
publicity and thinks she can intimidate you into paying 
her.” 

“ But doesn’t it seem strange she has not mentioned 
the boy ? ” 

It does, uncle, and it perplexes me a good deal.” 

“ Yes, and it bothers me to think where she could 
have heard of Geraldine.” 


144 


Doctor Carrington. 


At the mention of Miss Hamilton’s name, the Col- 
onel blushed like a girl. The quick eye of his sister-in- 
law noticed it, and it added another to her many wishes 
to help him. 

“ Do you know, Fred, it would not surprise me one 
bit to hear of that rascal Carter having something to do 
with all this stirring up, and perhaps that is why the 
boy has not been spoken of.” 

“ Millie, my dear, you have a most startling way of 
springing things upon people.” 

That may be, uncle, but I have noticed that her 
surmises are most generally correct.” 

Granting it, and in the present instance I would 
not be at all surprised. The fellow is capable of any- 
thing.” 

“ Then may the good God keep the dear child from 
ever again falling into his hands.” 

‘‘ O, there is no fear of that, Millie. Since I heard 
that the scoundrel was alive, I have been particularly 
cautious, and Father Stanhope has made arrangements 
for him at one of their schools, where he will be di- 
rectly under his eye while I am in India. I had 
thought of leaving him here for a while, as the poor 
'child has never known until now what the refining in- 
fluences of a home were, and besides he has become so 
attached to you, Millie, and the children. He thinks 
if he could only take Maurice with him he would be all 
right.” 

“ I wonder he did not want to take Dodo ! ” 


Colonel Thornton Hears About his Wife. 145 

No, his heart is wrapped up in Maurice as he calls 
him. I told him he was too young, and besides his 
mother would not part with him.” 

“ No, indeed, Fred, and another thing I do not be- 
lieve in sending young children away from home at the 
very time their minds are being formed and when they 
most need a mother’s influence and a mother’s care. I 
never could understand why parents shirked their duty 
in the early culture of their children, the only time in 
all their lives when they are so near to their hearts; 
the time when they are the recipients of all their little 
sorrows, and all their little joys, and all their faults, 
and when mother is to them the acme of all human 
greatness. O, no, indeed, I could not turn my young- 
children over to a stranger, no matter how clever he or 
she might be ; and perhaps hear them tell me as I heard 
General Bilks' children tell their mother when she cor- 
rected them for using some slang expression, ' that their 
teacher used it and he knew better than she did.' '' 

“If all parents had your practical good sense, Millie, 
there would be more intelligent and sensible people in 
the world.” 

“ Thank you, Fred, you are very kind, and how we 
will miss you.” 

“ The thanks belong to you, Millie, it is I that'll be 
the loser. Like D'Arcy, I may say I never knew until 
now what a home was, and like him, I too am very 
loath to leave it.” 

“ Oh, come don't look so glum about it, my boy. 

10 


146 


( Doctor Carrington. 


You remember what Father Stanhope said, ‘ That we 
would all get some share of happiness in one corner of 
this little w^orld.’ So cheer up. You don’t know what 
is in store for you. I feel in my bones, as Andy would 
say, that everything will come all right in the end.’’ 

“ About how long do you expect to be in India ? ” 

** That will depend on how quickly I can manage 
matters there, and no other tribal difficulties arise, 
which I do not apprehend. I ought to be back in Eng- 
land inside of a year at least.” 

‘‘ Then your stay there now will be short, I sup- 
pose? ” 

‘‘ Yes, indeed, as short as I can make it. A run for 
a few days down to Studley, then place D’Arcy under 
Father Stanhope’s care and I am off.” 

“ Suppose anything should occur before your leav- 
ing?” 

“ Do you mean about that woman, Alillie? I do not 
care to call her wife, as it might reach D’Arcy’s ears. 
He thinks his mother is dead, and I would not like to 
have his mind disabused of it.” 

‘‘ Millie, dear, what on earth kind of a figary is get- 
ting into your head now? ” 

“ I don’t know, uncle, but somehow I feel that there 
will be startling news in the next mail. You remem- 
ber how you all laughed at Geraldine’s dream about the 
encounter with Carter in the desert. Well, I have a 
strange feeling that we have not heard the end of him.” 

My dear child, you should not let such morbid 


Colonel Thornton Hears About his Wife. 147 

feelings get hold of you. Fll have to get Andy to give 
you a lecture on experimental psychology.” 

“ O, don’t, uncle, Andy has got a bee in his bonnet 
ever since he has been to Mr. Bodavin’s, and at times 
he is very tiresome.” 

Has he given up the school ? ” 

“ No, not altogether, Fred, but he finds it very dis- 
couraging. If the natives learn quickly, they forget 
just as quickly. Then they are lazy and dislike the 
trouble of thinking, and that is just the very thing 
Andy wants them to do, so as to get the monkey out of 
them, as he phrases it. However, I hope to have things 
all shipshape again as soon as that young fellow from 
Natal arrives. Doctor Molloy speaks very highly of 
him. He says he is not only a college-bred man but a 
gentleman. He came out here like many others under 
the impression of making a fortune in a short while, 
and he is the history of many others — hardship, fail- 
ures and shattered health. Doctor Molloy found him 
living with a Dutch family who were very kind to him, 
but the poor fellow’s days seemed to be numbered. 
The doctor took him home with him for treatment, and 
he has so improved that he feels quite sure now that 
our mountain air will soon make a new man of him 
again. He will take charge of D’Arcy’s education and 
assist Andy with the natives.” 

The next mail did not arrive until Colonel Thornton 
was well on his way to India. 


CHAPTER XXIL 


caxton's letter. 

In Caxton’s letter was one from Daly. He said it 
came just as he had finished writing his own, so he 
enclosed it as it spoke for itself. 

Dear Caxton : 

What my friend at the Embassy learned only tends 
to confirm Macknab’s story. The sister and her hus- 
band were proven nihilists and sent into exile. It was 
reported the wife died and that the husband escaped, 
but he was supposed to have perished from the cold, as 
he was suffering at the time from lung trouble. 

“ Now comes the strange part. I had called on 
Madame Zelano, and she invited me to do so again. 
Carrington has been staying with me for a few days, 
so I took him along on mv next visit. In the lobby we 
met a soldierly-looking chap with a medal on his breast 
and an empty sleeve pinned across it. I had seen the 
chap in Madame’s apartments, so he raised his cap to 
me. As he did so Carrington grasped my arm but 
said nothing. Madame received us most cordially and 
was very gracious to the doctor. 

“ When asked as to when she would make her public 
appearance, she replied that it all depended on her 
148 


Caxton’s Letter. 


149 

physician. She was under his care and must abide by 
his directions. 

“ We spent a pleasant quarter of an hour, or at least 
I did, and I am sure the doctor should have, as Madame 
lavished any amount of smiles on him, but I never saw 
him so distrait. 

On reaching the street, he burst out with ‘ Who is 
that woman, for by heavens that was Carter we met 
at her door.’ He was so excited and worked up that 
it was only when we got home that he could explain to 
me. 

Then he rehearsed the whole affair from the first 
meeting with Carter and the boy on the Pungwe to 
the ambush in the desert, and their terrible wanderings 
through it, the attack on Mr. Fitzgerald’s house and 
their mode of entering it. 

“ He told it so graphically and so earnestly that he 
carried me along with him and I became as excited as 
himself. After quieting down and recollecting our- 
selves we drove to ‘ Scotland Yard ’ and saw the chief, 
who is a friend of mine. We talked the matter over 
and left it in his hands. 

When or what the next curtain raised will be ‘only 
He who rules the thunder can tell.’ 

“ Love to Miss Hamilton and Miss Aileen. Mack- 
nab and all the others send kind wishes. Carrington 
and I will be on hand, don’t fear. 

“ Sincerely yours, 

“ T. P. Daly.^’ 


Doctor Carrington. 


ISO 

As Mrs. Thornton finished reading Mr. Daly’s let- 
ter her husband came cantering up the porch. He was 
playing horse for Dodo, and she was driving him with 
a long rein. Leaning against his wife’s chair he 
wanted to know what the news was. 

She handed him Daly’s letter and he sat down to 
read it. The stern look on his face as he perused it 
alarmed Dodo, so she clambered up on his knee and 
putting her arms around his neck whispered, Never 
mind, daddie, if you have been bad, just tell mama, 
and say you are sorry and you’ll neber, neber, do it 
adain. She’ll just kiss you and make you all well 
adain.” 

Dodo’s interpretation of the effects of the letter in- 
terrupted their reflections and reminded them of others 
to be read. Caxton’s being open, Mr. Fitzgerald told 
Hugh to read it aloud. 


CHAPTER XXIIL 


NEWS FROM GLENDALE. 

Dear Mr. Fitzgerald : 

It goes without saying that I received a real Irish 
welcome at Glendale. Miss Hamilton greeted me like 
a dear sister, and Aileen — well, Aileen and I are per- 
fectly happy. 

Tell Andy I have lost my heart to Innishown, to its 
people, its wild, picturesque coast scenery, and last, but 
not least, its mountain dew, in which I have many 
times drunk all your healths. 

Doctor Carrington met me at Buncrana with his 
trap the night I arrived, and I will not soon forget the 
drive to his house. 

“ It was full moon and full tide. The great waves 
came rolling in, mountains high, dashing in their mad 
fury against the iron-bound coast, and falling back 
with a roar like defeated giants. It reminded me 
something of Durban in a storm. 

“ But though grand and awe-inspiring, I was glad 
when the road turned from the coast, as the roar and 
din of ‘ What the wild waves were saying ’ had been 
my companion nearly all the way from Derry. After 
a while the quiet of the country became monotonous, 

151 


152 


Doctor Carrington. 


the only sound besides our voices that broke the still- 
ness being the rhythm of the horses’ feet as they pat- 
tered along over the smooth, hard road. 

Carrington kept pointing out objects to me that 
were quite familiar from Andy’s description of them. 
The old mill — how many tales has he not told me about 
it, and of the mad pranks you and he played on the old 
miller and his cranky old wife ! Both are in their long 
home years ago. The mill is tottering to decay, its 
walls and gable matted with ivv, and the loose sprays 
were swinging in the air and falling in tangles over 
the silent wheel. 

‘‘ In the tall grass near the moss-covered wall of the 
dam stood a solitary crane, looking like the ghost of 
the dead, dusty miller ‘ waiting to see the wheels go 
round.’ The road from there, if you will remember, 
turns again towards the coast. It was along there that 
Geraldine and her mother struggled and trudged that 
dreadful night when they were turned out of the house 
that is now her home. 

It would be hard to picture such a night as she de- 
scribed on the one I saw it. Then the hedgerows of 
eglantine and honeysuckle were scenting the air with 
their delicate perfume, and the little brooklet that 
purled along by the roadside was in many places hid- 
den by forget-me-nots and watercress. 

I stopped that night with Carrington and the next 
day presented myself at Glendale, and was most cor- 
dially received. Carrington was obliged to go to Lon- 



The Old Mill 


Page 152 



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News From Glendale. 


153 


don about his books, so I have been turned over to the 
protecting care of the ladies and Mr. Bradley, a most 
intelligent and cultured gentleman. 

“ He has just planned an excursion, as he wishes me 
to see something of the country. I rather think though 
that Mrs. Blake, who is chaperoning the young ladies, 
suggested the wish, as she seems to think I am taking 
up too much of their time. 

“ I dislike to commence a letter, so I’ll leave this and 
finish on my return. 

Returned from our tramp last night and here are 
some of the notes I made of it : 

“ Our first visit was to ^ Grenan of Aileach,’ and 
from the well that supplied the ancient fortress I drank 
your health in the sweetest water I have ever tasted, 
and listened to Mike Duggan, the local cicerone, tell the 
story of how Hugh O'Neil lies in slumber surrounded 
by his clansmen in a great cavern beneath the hill. 

Mike has the gift of the gab, and to use one of 
Andy’s expressions, could talk the birds off the bushes. 
Mr. Bradley says the surrounding country is pregnant 
with historic events. 

“ We slept our first night at Rathmullan, and that 
night saw a stirring scene. The place is now famous 
for its fishing yawls. I counted sixty within sight at 
one time, all going out salmon fishing on the high seas 
at night, and was surprised to learn that these poor 
toilers of the deep were obliged to pay £5 license a year 


154 


Doctor Carrington. 


for each boat before they were allowed to wet a net. 
The toil is severe, and many lose their lives, so danger- 
ous is the coast. 

“ Our next visit was to Horn Head. There it is 
simply grand, grotesquely pointed rocks standing up 
everywhere, with a highly colored sea crashing and 
churning among them, and verdure of the most delicate 
tints covering the face of the many cliffs down to the 
water’s edge, giving a delicious coloring to the scene. 

It was off here on Tory Island that Her Majesty’s 
war steamer, the Wasp, was wrecked. She was going 
to evict the then starving victims of oppression, the in- 
habitants of the Island of Inistrahul, when she went 
down in the dead of night with all hands aboard. Not 
one soul was left to tell the reason why. 

From there by boat past Sheep Haven and Fanad 
Head to Malin Head, the most northerly point of Ire- 
land. I felt that you and Andy were following me 
every step as I visited the places that were so familiar 
to you in your boyhood. 

“ At Malin Head I saw the ocean in all its grandeur, 
and would never tire watching the waves break on such 
a coast. I lav down on the edge of one of the many 
cliffs and gazed over the lofty rocks at the green waves 
breaking with that wondrous Atlantic swell against a 
solitary crag separated from and ahead of its fellows, 
anxious as it was to catch the first salt tidings from 
America. 

“ Although it was a calm, bright day, the force and 


News From Glendale. 155 

noise with which the huge waves discharged themselves 
against the cliffs was surprising. The colors of the 
ocean were exquisite, the main a dark, solemn purple, 
but the waves, as they broke into beautiful but impotent 
fury, took on the loveliest green imaginable. Their 
crests and wreaths of milk-white foam dashing up the 
almost black rocks and falling through the bright air 
down to their green birthplace again, made a glorious 
ocean picture, and it was completed by thousands of 
seagulls that hovered around the place. 

From the boat we had a fine view of the shore. 
Looking up through the various valleys which are sep- 
arated from each other by considerable lengths of mists 
from the ocean passing up through them, brought out 
so many distant headlands that the whole seemed like 
a set of dissolving views. 

“ We visited some of the caves, one by moonlight, en- 
tering just as the moon cast her first rays through the 
opposite entrance, and as they ripplied over the water 
and were refracted on the roof and sides of the cavern, 
covered as they were with stalactites, the effect was 
grand ; and as they ascended and covered the opening, 
flooding the whole place with silvery light, the sight 
was dazzlingly beautiful. 

“ From there we passed to Carnadonah and Clon- 
many, and then on to the Gap of Mamora, which is a 
fine feature in the landscape, as on account of the steep- 
ness of the rocks on either side it has the appearance of 
a perpendicular cleft in the mountain. Looking back 


156 


Doctor Carrington. 


from there is seen the headland of Dundaff like a huge 
opal jutting out into the ocean. The contrast between 
the near rugged peaks and the soft blue ridges far away, 
the fleecy mists from the hilltops, and the great cliffs 
of Malin, with Atlantic waves breaking on its iron 
rocks, make a picture long to be remembered. 

“ The scenery through the Gap is grand and with 
endless variety of form and striking contrasts of color 
both in hill, rock and mountain. Just now all is ablaze 
with the golden whin or gorse which covers vast tracks, 
making gay the black bogs and gloomy mountain tops. 

“ Fruitful as most parts of Ireland is in evidence of 
remote antiquity as well as of authentic proofs of 
Pagan civilization, this region is conspicuous for it. 

‘‘ The weather for some time had been threatening, 
and when ‘ MacSwiney’s Gun ’ began to boom it was 
a signal to get under cover as soon as possible. I re- 
gretted not being able to make the ascent of ‘ Slieve 
Snag,' as Mr. Bradley says the view from there is fine, 
but nothing to Muckish or Erigal, but at Garrick the 
cliff scenery of ‘ Slieve Snag ' is considered the finest 
of its kind in Europe. Before reaching Ramelton we 
were caught in such a storm as 

“ Ne’er poor sinner was abroad in, 

The wind blew as ’twad blawn its last, 

The rattling showers rose on the blast. 

The speedy gleams the darkness swallowed, 

Loud, deep and lang the thunder bellowed; 

That night a child might understand 
The deil had business on his hand.” 


News From Glendale. 


157 


“ We sought shelter from the ‘ deil ’ in a wayside 
cottage and were made welcome and invited to come 
forward, and get an air of the fire. The weather had 
grown chilly and the blaze from the turf fire looked in- 
viting. An old woman was carding wool ; a young one 
arose from her wheel as we entered and placed chairs 
for us in front of the fire, telling two chubby little 
chaps ‘ to hirstle out of the way, and let the gentlemen 
see the fire.’ 

One was intent on scraping a pot, the other was 
poking in the ashes. ^ What are you looking for, my 
little man? ’ asked Mr. Bradley. ‘ I am looking for me 
bristley. Alex trailed a’ the greshick af them.’ ‘ A 
didn’t. Ye wanted to eat them way the moon in them, 
didn’t he, grannie?’ ' Ye sup yer brouhan an’ ho’d yer 
whist.’ ‘ But there nene in it. Grannie.’ ' Ay plenty 
around the henshes o’ it.’ 

Thus admonished he began rattling his spoon 
around the sides of the pot, and the other chap pulled a 
big potato out of the embers. It was evidently their 
suppers. Having finished, their mother told them to 
wash their feet (she had placed a bucket of water for 
that purpose in the sink) and scjM off to bed. 

“There the squabbling beganligain. ‘Mother, Ned 
no washing his feet at a’. He gist rubbing ane way 
the ither.’ Here they were hustled off to bed and told 
not to forget their prayers. But we had not seen the 
last of them yet. The irrepressible Alex appeared at 


158 


Doctor Carrington. 


the door in shortest of cutty sarks, saying that ‘ Ned 
wouldna say God protect the poor fisher men/ 

“ The grannie’s patience seemed to be exhausted as 
she got up with a heckle in her hand. He seemed to un- 
derstand her meaning, for he banged the door, and that 
was the last we saw of him. ‘ They arc gist fairly 
spoiled,’ remarked the grandmother, as she dexter- 
ously turned a roll of wool off the heckles? into a basket 
at her side. ' Their father is home these few days and 
he gist lets them do as they please.’ 

The mother, who had been tidying up, now took 
her place at her wheel just as her husband came in. He 
recognized Mr. Bradley and came forward with a word 
of welcome. There is an innate dignity about the 
Donegal peasant that never degenerates into famil- 
iarity. Mr. Bradley shook hands with him, and they 
entered into conversation about the weather, and of 
storms past and wrecks along the coast. He was a 
coastguard man, but had been laid off for a few days 
by the inspector, who was making changes as he did 
last year, when he put Ned McConnell out of the light- 
house at the point, where he had been for ten years, and 
gave it to an Englishman named Murchison. The 
name seemed somehow familiar, and when he spoke of 
a brother who had been with him last summer as a one- 
armed chap, I fairly jumped off my chair and for a 
while I could not trust myself to speak. When I could 
I asked him if he knew Doctor Carrington. ‘ Yes, in- 


News From Glendale. 159 

deed, very weel, and everybody was glad he got home 
safe from them blackamoors.’ 

“ Murchison’s brother said he had been out to the 
war too and asked where the doctor lived, as he 
thought he might have seen him there, but the doctor 
had not reached home yet.” 

And thus the scene changes from South Africa to 
the northwest coast of Ireland. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE WEDDING. 

“ Oh, cherish Pleasure 
To him alone 
’Tis given to measure 
Time’s jewelled zone. 

“ As over meadows 

Cloud masses throng, 

So sweeps the shadows 
Of earth along.” 

The morning of the wedding awoke dressed in 
bridal array. The hawthorn hedges had burst into 
bloom and the banks and braes were gay with prim^ 
roses and bluebells. Even the little burn that wimpled 
along by the roadside would stop to forgather with 
some cluster of forget-me-nots and then dance off 
merrily again with some on its bosom. The birds, too, 
joined in the welcome, and vied with each other in a 
merry roundelay. 

It was a blithe and bonnie bridal morn, and a blithe 
and bonnie bride came forth to meet it. All nature 
seemed to be rejoicing over the event, and also the 

bridegroom, who kept humming to himself : 
i6o 


The Wedding. 


i6i 


“ I know a valley fair, Aileen Aroon, 

I know a cottage there, Aileen Aroon, 

Far in the valley’s shade 
I know a gentle maid, 

Flower of the hazel glade, Aileen Aroon.” 


It was a happy and merry wedding, and the old house 
rang with music and laughter as it had not done before 
in generations. The South African friends had not 
forgotten the bride and bridegroom. The only re- 
gret was their absence, but Dodo's letter in a measure 
made up for that. 

“ Mollie Darling : 

Ts suffering for 3^011 ; Ts all alone with daddie. 
Noddie has a new teacher and mama got a new baby. 
It’s an outwageous ugl}^ little thing wif a red face and 
a red hole for a mouf and no tooths, and it cries, cries, 
all the time, and has made mama sick. Uncle D’Arcy 
found it in a crow’s nest an’ I wanted him to take it 
back again. I put my fingers in its mouf to make it 
stop crying and daddie says if I do it again, he will not 
love me any more. Mollie darling, do come to your 
little girl and Aileen too, and Mr. Caxton. Tell him I 
love him and I have not broken the dollie he made me. 

“ Tommy Dodd bringed Doctor Carrington’s donkey 
for me. It’s such a funny little thing and it lets me 
ride him all alone. Uncle D’Arcy has a sore foot and 
can’t walk, and he and daddie plays with little men on 
the table, and ’cause I tooked some of them Uncle 

II 


i 62 


Doctor Carrington. 


D’Arcy said I was a spoiled little girl, and he would 
not love me or kiss me any more. 

“ Uncle Fred and Cousin D’Arcy are gone away. 
Uncle Fred gived me that lobley ring he had on his 
chain for your picture. He said it was a fair bargain, 
but mama tooked it away from me, she said it was too 
prescious. 

“ Don’t you think it is funny for a big man to kiss 
a picture? I saw Uncle Fred kiss yours and put it in 
his bosom.” 

The reading of Dodo’s letter caused much amuse- 
ment and Miss Hamilton many blushes. 

After the hurly-burly of the wedding and all the 
guests were gone. Miss Hamilton had time for reflec- 
tion, to arrange her thoughts, and to prepare herself 
for the new life before her. She marked out a 
straight course for herself, and with God’s help she 
purposed pursuing it. Caxton had shown her Daly’s 
letter, and for a time it raised hopes, but on quiet re- 
flection, thought it best to combat them until more 
confirmation was given to the reported death. Hers 
was not a cold, calculating nature, but a well regulated 
moral one, and with all the impulsiveness of a warm 
and affectionate heart. So she busied herself about the 
affairs and kept busy. The old adage that Satan 
finds work for idle hands ” had no place in her life. 

The incident at the cottage about Carter and his 
brother bothered her a good deal. She was going to 


Jimmy Hamber and II is Donkey. 






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The Wedding. 


163 

consult Mr. Bradley about it, when she met Jamie Bam- 
ber in his carrier’s cart and driving his donkey at a 
great rate down the hill. 

Jamie was the carrier’s grandson, and a regular imp 
of Satan, as full of tricks as a monkey. He had trained 
the donkey to do just as he told him, and many were the 
mad pranks they played on unsuspecting victims. He 
stopped to salute Miss Hamilton with a broad grin on 
his comical face. Jamie was no respecter of persons. 
Miss Hamilton however, was an exception. For her 
Jamie would go through fire and water. 

In talking to him the thought struck her that he 
might help her, as he knew every nook and corner about 
the country and almost everybody living in it. So as a 
venture she asked him if he knew the people at the 
lighthouse. Yes, he knew them very well. “ The 
man was good enough, but the woman was the very 
deil to please, and fecht way everybody, and turned her 
man’s brother out of the house in the biggest storm 
we had last summer — an’ more be token — there he is 
going back again. De ye see yon man going up the 
brae? Well, that’s him.” 

“ Do you mean that is the lighthouse-keeper’s 
brother ? ” 

“ A3^e. I do, that’s him an sore forefoughten he is 
too, walking a’ the way frae Derry an’ haeing only ane 
arm.” 

For a moment Miss Hamilton was too stunned to 
speak. On recollecting herself, she told Jamie to call 


164 


Doctor Carrington. 


at the house for something for his grandmother, and 
hurried to Mr. Bradley’s *to find him gone to the as- 
sizes at Lifford, and as Doctor Carrington had re- 
turned to London with Mr. Daly to arrange about the 
publication of his book, she was left without any one 
to consult. Returning slowly home, her resentment 
against the unfortunate wretch had time to cool, as she 
pictured him in her mind like a hunted beast fleeing 
for his life. However, as she knew the doctor’s ad- 
dress, she wrote to him and awaited events. 

As to Carter, for weeks he had been hunted by the 
detectives in and about London. Like the wily fox 
that he was, he would double on his tracks, and burrow 
in some hole, thus throwing them off the scent for days. 
At last he made his way to Liverpool and aboard a 
cattle boat returning to Londonderry. 

His wretched appearance softened his sister-in-law’s 
heart, and he was taken in and cared for. The next 
day he was carried out to sea in a fishing boat and put 
aboard a lumber vessel sailing from Londonderry to 
Quebec, and none too soon, as the detectives reached 
the house a few hours after he left. Believing him to 
be still in the neighborhood, they lost hours in a fruit- 
less search. 

The peasantry have an inborn dislike to inform- 
ers, and although the keeper was no favorite with 
them, they sent the detectives on many a wild-goose 
chase. 

So Carter with his usual luck escaped once more. 


The Wedding. 


i6S 

Madame Zelaiio also made a hasty departure from 
London. She knew that she was under suspicion and 
thought the air of Vienna or Paris would suit her bet- 
ter. 

The meeting of Carter by Doctor Carrington in her 
house no doubt helped to frustrate another attempt at 
abduction of Colonel Thornton’s son. Failing to in- 
timidate the father into paying her the twenty thousand 
pounds Carter and she had planned to carry off the 
boy if possible, and she had gone to the school where 
he was for that purpose. Father Stanhope was, how- 
ever, prepared for her, as the doctor had wired him 
about his meeting Carter at her house. She had gone 
with the intention of appealing to his sympathy as a de- 
ceived and deserted wife, but Father Stanhope knew 
all the circumstances of the case, so her reception was 
not at all what she expected. She left a much disap- 
pointed and disgusted woman, as Father Stanhope had 
told her some very unpleasant but wholesome truths 
that were not at all to her liking. So not wishing to be 
mixed up any more with Carter she left England for 
good and all. 

In answer to Miss Hamilton’s letter. Doctor Car- 
rington expressed himself as much disappointed at 
Carter’s escape and said he trembled for her safety 
when he heard that he was in the country. That he 
would strike at her he had no doubt, knowing well how 
many hearts he would wound through her. He was 
a most dangerous character to be abroad, a perfect de- 


i66 


Doctor Carrington. 


generate without any moral sense of right or wrong. 
He had written to Uncle Malcolm, telling him to be 
continually on his guard, as there was no knowing 
when or how he might return, also begging her not to 
go far from home alone. He knew she was interested 
in the cottagers and their industries and took long 
walks to reach some of them that were in lonesome and 
out-of-the-way places. He had finished revising some 
of the chapters of his book, the illustrations had come 
out admirably, and the whole thing was now in the 
hands of his publishers, who expected soon to throw it 
on the mercy of the public. As soon as it was out he 
would send her a copy. 

Daly and he were going for a short trip on the Con- 
tinent. They had promised Caxton and Aileen to 
meet them at Nice. Caxton had chartered a yacht and 
they were cruising in the Mediterranean. 

That evening he was going to take a run to see the 
boy, who was growing a fine, manly fellow, and the 
born image of his father. “ He has quite a claim on me 
as he saved me from death more than once, and such a 
death too, — although he insists that he is the debtor. 
So we have compromised the matter by forming a bond 
of eternal friendship.” 

Miss Hamilton kept on the even tenor of her way, 
taking long walks, usually accompanied by Brine, the 
old wolf hound, and a young retriever. She was much 
interested in the cottagers and their work, and often 
Avondered how such beautiful lace drawn- work and em- 







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The Wedding. 


167 


broidery were done amid such poor and mean sur- 
roundings. A welcome visitor she always was, the 
best chair was dusted and placed for her to sit on, where 
she could watch their busy fingers as they dexterously 
plied the needle and bobbin, and thought of the mis- 
erable pittance they received for such beautiful work. 
Yet how light-hearted and merry they were and so 
thankful to get it! 

She had given several orders, some for herself and 
others for Mrs. Thornton and Aileen. Mr. Fitzgerald 
had ordered a piece of frieze and Peter Maguire was 
weaving it. Peter and his wife lived in a cottage near 
the end of the village wdiich consisted of one street that 
ran up the face of a hill, which to climb up or down on 
a windy day was no joke. 

Peter it was said had a big stocking hid away for a 
rainy day. So much the better for Peter. Anyhow, 
they were the happiest and most jolly old couple in the 
world. They had a son in Australia and a daughter in 
America, and many a bank note came to the old couple 
from them. In time of want and need among their 
neighbors, the same bank notes often found their way 
into the hands of the priest, who knew best where they 
would do most good. Peter’s cottage was snug and 
comfortable, the big loom filling up one corner of the 
kitchen, where he would sit as happy as a lord, his old 
wife near by spinning the yarn that he was weaving 
into such beautiful cloth. 

They had been lovers always, from the time they 


i68 


Doctor Carrington. 


trudged together as children to school, he carrying her 
books and slate, and in the winter her turf and often 
herself on his back across the burns, when the stepping 
stones were covered with water. In all the sports and 
pastimes he had always been her protector, as she was a 
frail, delicate little thing. They had had their trials, 
and who has not? Their greatest was their children 
leaving home to seek abroad advantages that were de- 
nied them at home, but feeling it would be for their 
best interests, they gave their consent, trusting to God’s 
mercy for their guidance and protection. In Him they 
had trusted all their lives with clean and honest con- 
science, and kept their hearts young and mirthful. 

When Peter felt tired of weaving he would jump up 
from his loom, cut a pigeon wing, take down his fiddle, 
and challenge his Maggie to a dance, and it would do 
your heart good to see them keep step to the tune of 
Pluty Moll or the Foxhunters’ jig, he as nimble and 
she as coquettish and graceful as they were at twenty. 
Their lives thus tended to amplify the quotation, “ A 
virtuous youth makes a happy old age.” 

Peter need not have woven another inch of cloth or 
his wife spun another thread of yarn, as their children 
sent them ample means for support. But work had be- 
come a second nature to them and without it they would 
have been miserable. Their children wanted them to 
go and live with them, but they preferred to end their 
lives in their old home and like John Anderson my 


The Wedding. 


169 


“ They climb the hill togither, 

And mony a canty day, John 
We’ve had wi’ ane anither. 

Now we maun totter down, John, 
But hand in hand we’ll go, 

And sleep togither at the foot, 
John Anderson, my Jo.” 


Miss Hamilton enjoyed her visits to the old couple, 
and they felt very much flattered and proud of them. 
She seldom passed through the village without calling 
at the door to inquire how they were, and when she 
could spend an hour or so with them she thoroughly 
enjoyed their quaint talk, which mostly related to their 
children, or about her father, whom they remembered 
well, always speaking of him as a handsome, good, 
kind-hearted gentleman. She was usually accompanied 
by the dogs. Brine the staid, dignified old hound, 
walked stately by her side, but Sport, the young re- 
triever, was frolicsome and wanted to have a tussle 
with every dog he met, and wo betide the cat that 
came in his way. They flew at his approach and sought 
refuge in a tree if one was near by, or on the roof of 
some cottage, and there defied him. Once he followed 
one into a house and came out a sadder, if not a wiser, 
dog. It was Bettie Orr’s cat, and she came to its res- 
cue with a pair of hot tongs and pulled him from under 
the bed by the ear, and it was many a long day before 
it recovered its silky glossiness. 

In visiting Peter she always barred him out by clos- 
ing the half door, for their cat was a great pet. He 


Doctor Carrington. 


170 

would prowl around or wait on the doorstep for her. 
One day rejoicing in the henhouse aroused his curi- 
osity, and he started to investigate. His entrance 
caused a great commotion; the hens clacked and flew 
excitedly about. But the big dunghill cock resented 
his intrusion and caused him to beat a retreat. Peter 
opened the door to see what caused the row, and in 
rushed Sport, followed by the cock, his heckle feathers 
standing up around his head like a ruff, his comb and 
chillers inflamed with rage and his wings trailing on 
the ground. Sport sought and found refuge behind 
Peter’s chair and the cock was put “ hors de combat ” 
by Margaret’s broom. 

Sport’s spirit was not yet chastened. Miss Hamil- 
ton, in crossing a bank to take a near cut through a field 
where there was yet some stooks of oats, started a 
hurcheon who made for one of the stooks, chased by 
both of the dogs. But master hedgehog knew a trick 
or two, and curled himself up into a ball of sharp 
thorn-like spikes that neither dog cared to tackle. 
Brine returned to his mistress’ side a much disgusted 
dog, but Sport went careening around the stooks for a 
while, and then disappeared from view, but was 
shortly afterward heard barking furiously and chil- 
dren screaming. Hastening to the place she found two 
little girls who had been herding a cow along the 
road, when Sport came along and playfully began 
biting her heels and drove her into a deep ditch. 

'' Oh, she is in the sheugh. Miss Hamilton, an she’ll 


The Wedding. 


171 

near get out.” And in the sheugh she was sure 
enough, entangled among a lot of briars. Miss Ham- 
ilton was about to send the children for assistance when 
Jamie Bamber, who also had heard the children scream, 
came racing up the road. Yes, it was a Bamber to the 
rescue. With a sickle he cut away the briars and had 
the cow on the road again in no time. Taking an arm- 
ful of clover from the cart he gave it to the little girls, 
and told them to scud away home as fast as their legs 
could carry them, as Lord George’s big bull was com- 
ing down the “ loanin.” 

They could hear him roar as he came along, tearing 
up the grass in the lane with his horns and tossing it 
into the air. For once Sport did a brave thing. He 
and Jamie’s terrier attacked the bull’s heels and kept 
him wheeling around in a vain effort to gore them, 
but they were too nimble for him, spancled as he was 
by a chain from his right forefoot to his right hind 
one. Jamie and Miss Hamilton had got the donkey 
and cart into the field and let down the bars of the 
gate (fortunately for them it was near at hand,) and 
from the top of the bank watched the infuriated beast 
and his tormentors until two men with pitchforks 
came and drove him home. 

“ He’s an ugly beast. Miss Hamilton, an’ we’ll be all 
glad when he’s gone away. Mr. Macrea, who has a big 
stock farm, up the country, has bought him, and paid 
a big price for him, it’s said, because he is such a good 
breed. Well, I wish him luck o’ his bargain.” 


I72 


Doctor Carrington. 


Jamie having got the donkey and cart out on the 
road again, and the coast now being clear, as the bull 
was safely at home by that time, asked Miss Hamilton 
if she widna mind riding in a cadger’s cart? Ned- 
die would carry her safely, an’ she needna use the stick 
ava.” 

Miss Hamilton accepted the offer on condition that 
Jamie would drive himself. She was tired, and besides, 
Jamie’s gossip amused her, as he was sure to have 
something to say about every house they would pass 
and the folks who lived in them. 

‘‘John Maclintic lives in there, an ’his folks are 
setting up to be quality now since they hae a new 
house way a slate roof on it. Folks say they might 
hae waited awhile, and let their father hae a rest. He 
was drowned in that burn when he was coming frae 
the mill way a melder o’ meal. He was a dour kind 
o’ a man an’ alway stottering full.” 

A cart passed before them on the cross road, and 
Jamie stood up to look after it. 

“ Week” he exclaimed, “ if that na the woman frae 
the lighthouse and whar can she be going nay her two 
red-headed scauded weans an’ there is a kist in the cart 
too, an it’s Tam Orr’s cart at that.” 

One of the children dropped his cap, and the cart 
stopped for the man to pick it up as Jamie drove past, 
and as he did so the children called to him. Then the 
mother gave them a shake and Miss Hamilton a 
look. 


The Wedding. 


173 


“ My, how she glowered at you, Miss Hamilton ! 
She thought ye were demeaning yourself by riding in 
a carrier’s cart. But did ye twig how red she got 
when I asked her about the letters? ” At this Jamie 
laughed uproariously and told Miss Hamilton about 
the joke. 

“ She thinks herself aboon anybody here, an’ is equal 
to the quality itself for imperance, begging your 
pardon. Miss Hamilton. She used to deave me way 
her blowing about her grand relations, an’ a sister who 
was married on a rich shopkeeper in London. One 
day she began to read me a letter frae her telling all 
about her grandeur. She didna read very straight, 
an’ I noticed she read the letter upside down. Aye, 
me fine lady, thought I to myself, way all yer blowing 
ye cannot read writing hand. So the next week I 
played a joke on her. Doctor Macsorley gave me a 
letter for Murchison himself, an’ as he gave me nothing 
for taking it, I thought to collect something at the 
house. So I sad to her, ‘ Here is a letter for ye’ an’ 
I think it is frae London, but they forgot to stamp it, 
an’ I had to pay twopence on it.’ She took the letter 
frae me, turned it over, looked at first at ae side, then 
the other. Yes, it was frae her sister, an’ no doubt the 
servant had kept the money for the stamp. She gave 
me twopence an’ I scudded off, for the letter was the 
doctor’s bill for attending the weans when they had 
the mumps.” 

On reaching the next turn in the’road Miss Hamilton 


174 


Doctor Carrington. 


thanked Jamie and bade him good-bye. She could hear 
him as he went up the road again singing and Dandy 
yelping accompaniment to 

“ Crowdie ance, crowdie twice, 

Crowdie three times a day ; 

And if you crowdie any more, 

Ye’ll crowdie a’ my meal away.” 

Miss Hamilton found Mr. Bradley, Mrs. Blake and 
Mollie Carrington, the doctor’>s sister, at the house, 
and they all had a good laugh at her adventures. Mrs. 
Blake called it a real cock and bull story.” 

Jamie’s joke on the lighthouse-keeper’s wife nearly 
convulsed Mollie Carrington, who said she must cul- 
tivate her acquaintance, as she was too good a thing 
to shine only for sailors. The marines must have a 
little of her light also, and proposed to Mrs. Blake to 
invite her to tea. 

“Yes, and you initiate her into the ‘ imperance of 
the quality ’ as Jamie calls it.” 

Mollie bridled up, but Uncle Malcolm came to the 
rescue by saying he had no doubt but that she was a 
very silly woman. The husband he thought a good, 
honest fellow, and in every way the antipodes of his 
brother, who, by the way, he was going to tell them 
was dead. He had heard the report, and that morn- 
ing went to the lighthouse and saw Murchison. He 
gave him a letter to read he had received from the 
captain of the ship the fellow had escaped on. It said 
that when off the Banks of Newfoundland he became 


The Wedding. 


175 


delirious through illness and jumped overboard. 
Doubts were expressed as to its truth. Miss Hamil- 
ton said she could not believe it until she had more and 
better proofs. 

“What did the brother say, Uncle Malcolm?” 

“ He was much cut up, Mollie, and firmly believed it 
to be true. He said he knew his brother had been a 
wild fellow, but had no idea how bad he was until I 
told him of his being drummed out of Colonel Thorn- 
ton’s regiment, his subsequent attack on the Colonel’s 
life, the stealing of his son and of his escape with him 
into Zululand and association with Cetewayo, the Zulu 
chief; his attack on the doctor in the desert and res- 
cue of the boy, and how he lost his arm in the siege of 
Mr. Fitzgerald’s house. 

“ The man felt so badly I was almost sorry I told 
him. He knew the Colonel well, and his brother too. 
and kind friends they had been to all of his family. 
His father, who is now a feeble old man, is living on 
the Colonel’s bounty at Studley with his brother-in-law, 
whom the Colonel lets keep the farm for his father’s 
sake. He had followed the sea and been shipwrecked 
off Buncrana and lost one of his hands, and it was 
through Colonel Thornton he had got the position of 
lighthouse keeper, first at Penzance, then at Milford, 
and last year he was sent here where he had lost his 
hand, and had no idea he was so near to the relatives 
and friends of Colonel Thornton. He believed his 
brother was dead, or at least he hoped he was. From 


176 


Doctor Carrington. 


his childhood he had been wayward and headstrong, 
and gave his father and mother mountains of care and 
anxiety, but thanked God his mother had died before 
she knew of his bad deeds, and hoped it would be kept 
from his father. 

“ As I said before, I felt sorry for the man. His 
evident grief and humiliation at his brother’s conduct 
quite unmanned him. I told him no one could hold 
him nor any of his family accountable for his brother's 
conduct. Evidently, Colonel Thornton did not. At 
the mention of the Colonel’s name he broke fairly down. 
Then I hurried away, as I felt that my presence was an 
intrusion. As I opened the door I came face to face 
with his wife, who had evidently been listening. Then 
I felt doubly sorry for the man.” 


CHAPTER XXV. 


JAMIE BAMBER. 

Miss Hamilton walked down the avenue as far as 
the gate with her visitors, and from there they saw 
Jamie Bamber standing in the road talking to a man 
in a cart. Jamie, on seeing Miss Hamilton, burst out 
with : 

“ O ! Miss Hamilton, she’s gane away, weans, kist, 
an’ all ! Yon’s Tam Orr’s man wha drove her to the 
station whare she’ll take the train for Derry. Trouth, 
I’m na sorry she’s gane an’ I’m sure deil a ane alse is. 
Her man’ll get a rest now. Ned Donlen says she gied 
him a dreadful keel-harlin afore she went. Well joy 
go way her! Deil a ane I know will greet after her,” 
was Jamie’s comment as he scampered off after the cart, 
no doubt in quest of more news, as Ned Donlen was 
known to be the biggest gossip in the parish. 

Mr. Bradley was not at all surprised as the woman’s 
appearance at the door, and the look on her face fore- 
told a storm about to break on the unfortunate man, 
and from his soul he pitied him. 

Miss Hamilton stood by the gate looking down the 
road after Mr. Bradley and Mrs. Blake — the long white 
road that she and her mother trudged over that memor- 
12 177 


178 


Doctor Carrington. 


able night. She seldom passed through the gate or 
looked into the lodge but thoughts of her mother came 
into her mind. To-day, however, they were of her 
father, of whom she had but an indistinct memory. 

She was aroused from her reverie by Mollie Carring- 
ton (who was to stay with her for a few days). 

What on earth are you dreaming about, Geraldine? 
You have that same faraway look on your face again. 
Is it in India or South Africa your wits are wander- 
ing?” 

“ In neither, Mollie, I am just here both in body and 
mind. I was thinking of my father. I dreamed about 
him last night. I thought I saw him coming down the 
road on horseback. The horse was cabrioling from 
one side of the road to the other, and my father looked 
so handsome and debonnair as he sat in the saddle 
with his knees pressed to the horse’s side as he came 
dancing up to the gate. I thought as I opened it for 
him he kissed his hand to me and rode off down the 
road again.” 

Is that all?” 

“ Yes, I awoke then.” 

How tantalizing ! Could you not have taken 
another wink and found out what he wanted?” and 
Mollie quoted Riickert’s “ Lady Eleanora von Al- 
ley ne.” 

“ Thereon he rode away, the gallant Mangrave Gondibert, 

From the Lady Eleanora von Alleyne ; 

Thereon he rode away, the gallant Mangrave Gondibert 


Jamie Bamber. 


179 


And long in shame and anguish did that haughty lady languish, 
Did she languish without pity for her pain, 

She the Lady Eleanora, 

She the Lady Eleanora von Alleyne.” 

Miss Hamilton did not seem to relish the quotation, 
and Mollie, feeling that she had put her foot in it, 
asked Geraldine why she looked so glum. 

‘‘ I don’t feel glum as you call it, Mollie, but I do feel 
with Aunt Blake that 3^our tongue is just a little too 
glib.” 

“ O yes, and that I am always saying the right thing 
in the wrong time.” 

Geraldine did not answer her. She knew what was 
behind Mollie’s thoughts. It had been the dearest wish 
of all the family that Geraldine would marry the doc- 
tor. Geraldine had a strong and sincere friendship 
for the doctor, and nothing more. What the doc- 
tor’s feelings towards her were he wisely kept to him- 
self. 

As they silently sauntered up to the house the rooks 
were returning to their roosts in the black oaks that 
lined the avenue, and they kept up such a caw, caw, 
cawing that, if they had been inclined to talk, they 
would have had to bawl to each other. Mollie knew 
she had done wrong, and in her anger against herself 
she felt like biting her tongue off or doing something 
desperate, and called herself any amount of uncompli- 
mentary things. 

‘‘ Yes,” she soliloquized, “ Aunt Blake is perfectly 


i8o Doctor Carrington. 

right. I have neither intellect nor judgment.” Mollie 
was her own most severe critic and censor. She suf- 
fered mental agony for her faults as all sensitive, impul- 
sive people with ill-regulated minds do. As a child 
her sharp, witty sayings were laughed at and ap- 
plauded, but as a woman they were received very dif- 
ferently, and got her to be both feared and disliked. 

She had left home in a tiff, and here the very first 
thing she affronts Geraldine. She wanted to apolo- 
gize, but the longer she hesitated the more difficult it 
became, and Geraldine’s silence was so aggravating. 
If she would only speak or say something ! But Geral- 
dine did not say one word. She had forgotten all about 
the incident, she was so used to Mollie’s impudence. 
In fact, she was oblivious to her presence, as her mind 
and thoughts were thousands of miles away. 

Poor Mollie went on chewing the cud of bitter re- 
flections, and had half resolved to return home, as 
Geraldine’s silence was becoming unbearable. By the 
time they reached the house she was desperate, and 
blurted out, “ Well, Jerrie, I had no idea that you 
were so thin-skinned. I am sure that I had no inten- 
tions of hurting your feelings.” 

‘‘ Why, Mollie, what on earth are you thinking 
about, and what fancied wrongs are you piling up in 
your head now? You are becoming entirely too sensi- 
tive.” 

“ Yes, that is just what papa says, and that sensitive 
people are not always sensible people,” 


Jamie Bamber. 


i8i 


“ Well, never mind what he says just now. I heard 
something when I was in the village this morning, but 
Uncle Malcolm’s visit put it out of my head until this 
moment. You know the Miss Pryor’s? Well, Mar- 
garet MacDermont told me this morning that they were 
in a very destitute state, and if it was not for their old 
servant Peggie, the good God only knows what would 
become of them. She has begged and borrowed, and 
borrowed and begged until every one is borrowed out. 
I told Margaret to tell her I wanted to see her, and 
there she is, poor soul.” 

Peggie came forward rather shyly, her little plaid 
shawl pinned neatly across her breast, her white linen 
apron nearly covering her print frock, and although 
both it and the ribbon on her cap were faded from fre- 
quent washing, she looked a neat, clean, wholesome 
body. 

“ Have you been here long, Peggie ? ” 

A good wee while. Miss Hamilton. 

I am sorry. But come into the house, I want to 
hear about the Miss Pryor’s. I have heard that they 
were in great distress, and I want you to tell me the 
whole truth about it.” 

“ O, then, it’s a sorry tale to tell. Miss Hamilton, 
and a short one. They are just starving, and that 
vagabond of a brother of theirs has sent the bailiff to 
seize Miss Letitia for ane of his gambling debts. Oh, 
Miss Hamilton, dear, it’ll just kill them, an’ poor Miss 
Letitia, who has been a cripple all her life an’ canna put 


i 82 


Doctor Carrington. 


a foot past anither. Think of her being taken through 
the street to jail like a common body! 

The heartless scoundrel ! ” 

“ Aye, that is just what he is, Miss Hamilton, an’ 
wha would hae thought it, he was such a bonnie boy, 
an’ they just worshiped him. An’ forby the man 
wanted something to eat, the Lord save us, when there 
has been nothing in the house for days, but a wheen 
praties, that Jamie Bamber howked out o’ ane o’ Tam 
Orr’s fields. I cut the twa biggest anes into slices an’ 
toasted them on the coals, an’ that an’ some tea is all 
they have had the day, — and the same I made out o’ 
black currant leaves way a sprig o’ hyssop in it, an’ it 
is no so bad either if ane had cream an’ sugar way it. 

“ Aye, Jamie is a good laddie, an’ if it had na been 
for him we wad hae surely perished way the cold last 
winter. He wad come stealing up in the dusk way a 
creel o’ peat an’ maby a wheen eggs or a haddock. I 
hope he came honestly by them, but if he didn’t, I am 
sure the Lord will forgive him, as they were sorely 
needed.” 

“ Is the man in the house now, Peggie ? ” 

“ No, Miss Hamilton. I met Tam Wilson as I 
came up, and he said they had him down at Alex 
Trown’s, and he was nearly full, and I told him to 
keep him that way until I got back.” 

Peggie went home neither hungry nor empty- 
handed, and Miss Hamilton sent a message to Mr. 
Bradley telling him about Miss Letitia. The next 


Jamie Bamber. 


183 


morning he rode over to the house. Mollie and she 
were waiting for him, and the three started for the 
Pryors’ place. On the way they were joined by Cap- 
tain Keyes, the Justice of the Peace, and the four rode 
up together. They were astonished to find that about 
all the village folk were there, and the old yellow coach 
from Johnnie Maxwell’s inn was standing in front of 
the house. The Captain dismounted and made his 
way through the crowd. Two policemen were stand- 
ing by the door keeping back the people, and as Cap- 
tain Keyes reached them there appeared in the door- 
way two men carrying Miss Letitia on a bed. 

The women set up a pitiful cry, and threw their 
aprons over their heads, as if to shut out the sight, and 
it was a most pitiful one. The poor, wan face, with 
closed eyes and tears streaming down the withered 
cheeks, was enough to draw tears from a heart of stone. 
Captain Keyes commanded the men to halt, and ordered 
them to carry the lady back into the house again, and 
handed to one of the policemen a warrant, telling him 
to put the men under arrest. One was no other than 
the holder of the forged note on which Miss Letitia 
was to have been carried to jail. 

The villagers were not satisfied with the arrest, they 
wanted some more revenge than that for the insult put 
on Miss Letitia. Toal McCluskey, the blacksmith (hur- 
cheon Toal he was called, because of the hump on his 
back), proposed to dip him in Billie Pilt’s midden hole, 
the most stinking one in the parish, and they would 


184 


Doctor Carrington. 


have done it had not Captain Keyes interfered. “Not, 
my boys, but that he deserves it, but it would be 
against the law.” 

It had not been known outside the village that the 
poor ladies were in such distress. They were so proud 
and would sooner die than make it known, and they 
would have surely done so but for Peggie. 

Captain Keyes and Mr. Bradley set to work to 
straighten out their affairs. They were distant rela- 
tions of the Captain, and his indignation at their treat- 
ment and at the one who was the cause of it was beyond 
expression. 

“ The young whelp ! ” he exclaimed. “ I would like 
to break every bone in his body. Prosecute him ! Yes ! 
I’ll not leave a stone unturned until I have made him 
suffer for this day’s work, the unnatural cub. He is 
his father over again. My cousin was wise when he 
settled his daughter’s fortune on herself and had it re- 
vert to her children.” 

The Miss Pryor’s father was a reckless spend- 
thrift. Among his companions he was called a jolly 
good fellow; at home he was an unfeeling tyrant. 
After the death of Miss Eliza and Miss Letitia’s 
mother, he married the widow of a rich distiller, and 
soon made ducks and drakes of her money, and took 
his departure to another world by way of breaking his 
neck riding a steeplechase, leaving a wife and son pen- 
niless. Her stepdaughters offered her a home, but it 
was only for a little while. She soon died, leaving to 


Jamie Bamber. 185 

the care and protection of his sisters her son, then four 
years old. 

He became their idol, and all their affections were 
lavished on him, and as he grew to manhood he was 
their joy and their pride. At college they ungrudg- 
ingly paid his debts, although they had to skimp and 
stint themselves for it, and when he chose the army as 
a profession it was Captain Keyes who got him his 
commission in a crack regiment. There he got in with 
a fast lot, and his downfall was rapid. He then seemed 
to lose all sense of shame and honor, forged his sisters’ 
names, and it was on one of those notes that Miss 
Letitia was to have been taken to jail. 

Captain Keyes rode home with Mr. Bradley and the 
ladies, and over luncheon they discussed an article of 
Mr. Bradley’s in the Journal of the Royal Historical 
and Archaclogical Society. 

“ On the great megalithic monument known as the 
Irish Stonehenge in Deer Park.” 

From excavations made by the Society, it is now 
put beyond dispute that it is a sepulchral structure of 
pagan times. There are three trilithoms in the struc- 
ture, and except Stonehenge, they are not known any- 
where else in Great Britain. The structure is 104 feet 
in length and about 50 feet in width at the broadest 
part.” 

“Geoffrey of Monmouth, who wrote about 1147, 
says that Stonehenge was erected by Ambrosius with 


Doctor Carrington. 


i86 

the aid of the wizard Merlin, who actually transported 
the monument from Ireland.” 

“ He probably meant that the design of Stonehenge 
was borrowed from Ireland.” 

Mollie could not understand why Uncle Malcolm 
and Captain Keyes troubled themselves so much about 
musty old things of dead and gone ages, when there 
were plenty of live people and their works to look at, 
and was sure the doctor’s book was much more inter- 
esting than the ‘‘ Annals of the Four Masters ” that 
Uncle Malcolm and Captain Keyes was making such 
a fuss about. 

Last week she had received a letter from the doctor, 
and he said if his book was the success that he expected, 
he would take her over to London to see Aileen’s pic- 
ture at the Academy that Daly’s friend, the artist, had 
painted. 

“ I hope it is a good likeness, and that you will like 
it, Mollie, otherwise I’d feel sorry for the artist should 
he be within hearing of your criticism,” remarked her 
uncle. 

Caxton waited a week at Nice for the doctor and 
Daly. They had been detained in London by news 
about Carter, and wired him they would meet him at 
Naples. 

There they found Aileen’s brother and another 
young South African. It was their first visit to Naples, 
and as Daly knew every spot of interest in and about 
the city, having spent several winters there, he became 


Jamie Bamber. 187 

their cicerone, and they had what they called a delight- 
ful time. 

The doctor found some old friends in the museum, 
and he spent most of his time with them. The rooms 
of the Papyri had a great attraction for him, and he 
sat for hours watching the unrolling of what appeared 
to him as pieces of charcoal. The whole collection was 
found in a suburban villa at Herculaneum, and at first 
many were destroyed, as the fire and moisture had so 
changed their appearance that they looked like char- 
coal. The arrangement of the rolls in the room in 
which they were found excited curiosity and led to 
the discovery of some Greek and Latin words. The 
whole collection was then deposited in the Royal Mu- 
seum. The work of unrolling is slow and tedious; 
as each little bit is detached it is deciphered and trans- 
cribed by men engaged for that purpose. 

One evening, on returning home from a visit to Ca- 
serta, the party found Caxton and Aileen waiting for 
them in the hotel. The yacht arrived that morning, 
and was then at anchor off Castellamare. Aileen was 
overjoyed to see her brother. He and young Molloy 
came over to go to college in England. Their delight 
and pleasure in everything they saw and their frank, 
boyish way of expressing it, rather amused the older 
men, and caused Daly to repeat Moore’s 

“ Give me back, give me back 
The wild freshness of morning; 

Her smiles and her tears 
Are worth evening’s best light.” 


i88 


Doctor Carrington. 


Aileen had been reading the Iliad and Virgihs ^neas 
(as indeed they are the best guide-books to the greatest 
part of the coast of Italy), and had made up her mind 
to visit all the places mentioned by both of them. 
Caxton said she had gone daft on Homer, and with her 
it was : 

“ Read Homer once, and you can read no more, 

For all books else appear so mean, so poor; 

Verse will seem Prose, but still persist to read, 

And Homer will be all the books you need.” 


But when it came to the parting, Aileen gave up the 
idea of going up the Adriatic, and concluded she did 
not wish to see Venice just then, and begged Caxton 
to return to Nice, as she wanted to be with her brother 
as long as possible. So their plans were changed 
again. Now they would only visit Capri, Salerno and 
Paestum. The boys had been reading about it and 
were wild to see the temples, the most perfect Greek 
ruins in the world with the exception of those at 
Athens. 

‘‘Approaching them from the beach they are awe- 
inspiring. Their huge, dusky masses standing alone 
amidst their mountain wilderness without one vestige 
near of any power that could have reared them, they 
look absolutely supernatural. 

“ Their grandeur, their gloom, their majesty, there is 
nothing like the scene on this wide earth. And thus 
they stand and will for generations, relics of the art 
and refinement and civilization of bygone times, as sub- 


Jamie Bamber. 189 

lime as Homer’s verse, and fitly they stand amidst 
Homeric scenes. 

“ The Tyrrhene waters wash their classic shores, and 
blue and misty through the morning haze lies the Syren 
Isle of Leucosia. IMinerva’s foreland is across the sea, 
and if Oscan tales are true the Trojan hero landed here 
at Posidonian port.” 

Paestum, the boys knew, was celebrated for its roses 
and violets, and although it was past their season for 
blooming the boys found some half-blown roses near 
the temple of Vesta. They still retained their ancient 
fame for beauty and fragrance. 

Aileen prized them more than all the coral she had 
purchased in Naples. 

The doctor found letters at Nice that determined 
him to go to Nantes. Before leaving England he had 
heard of two sailors who were picked up in an open 
boat by an English ship off the Banks of Newfound- 
land. 

The story they told was that they were sent from 
their ship to put a passenger aboard a French fishing- 
boat and that they got lost in the fog. They were 
Canadian French and spoke but little English. The 
name of their ship was the Ontario, and that was also 
the name of the one that Carter escaped on. They 
could not remember the name of the vessel they had put 
their passenger aboard of, but thought it was the 
Jacinth. That was why he was going to Brittany to 
find if a vessel of that name sailed from around there. 


Doctor Carrington. 


190 

All tried to persuade him to give it up ; even, as they 
said, if he did find out what good would it do him. 
Better let the poor devil go, he has had punishment 
enough already. The doctor was obdurate. He 
seemed to be insane on the capture and punishment of 
Carter. Before his terrible wanderings in the South 
African desert, he was considered a most humane and 
kind-hearted gentleman, and of a very forgiving dis- 
position. That his dreadful mental suffering then 
must have caused some moral defect in his character, 
was the only way his friends could account for his 
changed disposition. 

Since he could not then be persuaded to give up his 
mission, as Caxton humorously called it, they would 
give him time for a little more reflection, and all go on 
to Marseilles, from where Caxton, Aileen and the boys 
would go to Paris. On reaching there, the doctor was 
still of the same mind. Go he would — and did. Daly 
went with him. There had been rioting at Bordeaux 
and La Rochelle, and he was ordered to write it up and 
to find out something about the talk of smuggling over 
the Spanish frontier. 

The doctor reached Nantes much disappointed. He 
had heard nothing, and had given up all hope of doing 
so when he received a telegram from Daly, telling him 
to meet him at Bordeaux as he had some interesting 
news for him. 

During his stay in Bayonne, he met an artist, a cor- 
respondent for an illustrated paper, who had been mak- 


Jamie Bamber. 


191 

ing sketches and photographs for it up through the 
Pyrenees. 

They were in a cafe one evening during their stay 
there, and Coleman was amusing himself caricaturing 
some guests when some sailors came in. Daly always 
made friends with the garcons by tipping them well. 
He told the one who was waiting on them to ask the 
sailors to drink with him and ordered the best in the 
house. With some tact he got them to talk about them- 
selves, and with the help of the brandy and his ready 
Celtic wit, he soon had them in a most gracious mood. 
They sang for him and told yarns of the briny deep, 
and of hairbreadth escapes both on sea and land. The 
sea stories were about storms, shipwrecks, and fish. 
The land ones mostly about women, and they were more 
fishy than the others. 

Then he adroitly led them to speak of boats that had 
sailed from around there or from Nantes and casually 
asked if thev knew anything of one called the Jacinth, 
At the name the faces changed and a strapping young 
fellow bearded like a pard rose said, Monsieur 
must pardon them, she was a subject they could not 
discuss.” 

Daly was most profuse in his apology and said the 
reason why he asked was that he had heard there had 
been a most notorious fugitive from justice aboard of 
her. 

Monsieur was right,” the same chap replied, there 
had been a fugitive aboard, but the man was a patriot, 


192 


Doctor Carrington. 


and it was for trying to assist his countrymen to shake 
off the tyranny of England that he lost his arm. He 
was fleeing not from justice, Monsieur, but from in- 
justice.” 

He knew all about it as he had read the letter the cap- 
tain of the Ontario had sent to his captain. He was 
the first officer of the Jacinth and the captain’s clerk. 

Daly said afterwards that never before had he so 
much trouble to keep down his risibility. Over an- 
other bottle he explained to them what he thought and 
knew about Carter and quite disabused their minds of 
his patriotism. 

When asked if they kneAV what had become of him, 
one chap who had been an attentive listener to Daly 
said he believed he was up in the mountain, as he had 
seen him talking with Jean Baptiste and Francois after 
they came ashore, and Francois had told them that he 
was not going on the sea again, as Jean Baptiste said 
there was more money to be made in crossing the 
mountains. The brandy had done its work and Daly 
got the information he wanted, and as he expressed 
more by good luck than by good guidance. 

When they got back to the hotel Coleman asked Daly 
if he could recognize Carter’s picture if he saw it? He 
thought not, but was sure the doctor would. But why 
did he ask ? Unlocking a portfolio of photographs he 
handed him one representing a group of men sitting 
around a table under the shade of a tree. They were 
evidently drinking and playing cards. The center 


Jamie Bamber. 


193 


figure was holding a glass in his left hand and ap- 
parently intent on watching another dealing out cards. 

Coleman glanced around the room as he handed the 
picture to Daly and remarked that his life would not 
be worth a sou if any of the men who were at the cafe 
saw it, and explained how he got it. 

While sketching and photographing up through the 
Pyrenees he stopped at a little inn almost on the fron- 
tier. He knew it was a rendezvous for smugglers 
from the number of men who came and went in the 
night. He did not feel particularly safe, but as he had 
sprained his ankle, he was obliged to stay for two or 
three days. The landlord gave him a room on the 
ground floor, and in front of the house. The men al- 
ways came and went by the back. 

‘‘ The party seen in the picture had arrived early the 
evening before, and were evidently waiting for some 
one or something, as one of the party was always on 
the alert, while the others were passing their time as 
shown in the picture. I got a good shot from behind 
the window shutter, and to be frank with you my heart 
was in my mouth all the time, as it would have been 
sure death to me had they known what I was doing. 
I developed the picture when I got here. Have I more 
than one copy? No, but I can easily make more. Give 
it to you? Why, certainly; I was about to do so. 
But be careful not to let it be seen around here.” 

The doctor recognized Carter’s picture the moment 
his eyes fell on it. Then Daly explained to him all 
^3 


194 


Doctor Carrington. 


about how it was taken, and how he got it, and every- 
thing he had heard from the sailors, and although they 
were amused at the clever way the rascal had duped the 
captain of the Ontario, they were also indignant. As 
it would be fruitless to attempt anything more the doc- 
tor concluded to go home. 


CHAPTER XXVL 


MRS. BLAKE. 

Doctor Carrington was lounging in a comfort- 
able chair in his uncle’s library by an open fire, turning 
over the leaves of his new book, and explaining some 
of the pictures to his aunt and sister when his uncle 
came in. 

The book had met with all the success he had ex- 
pected and he was feeling quite satisfied with himself. 
Mollie brought to her uncle a number of criticisms 
from different reviews, all praising the book and com- 
plimenting the author, and asked what he thought of 
them. 

Very flattering, indeed,” was the answer. I sup- 
pose he will be going back there again to write another 
and make Carter the central figure.” 

“ O, uncle, how can you cay so, and he such a vile 
brute!” 

“ That may be, my dear, nevertheless he would be 
a fine subject for a leading character. See the romance 
that could be woven around the dance he has led Dick, 
not only in Africa, but half through Europe.” 

** It is my opinion,” said Mrs. Blake, ‘‘ that Carter is 

I9S 


196 


Doctor Carrington. 


only a ‘ Will o’ the Wisp ’ that has been leading Dick 
such a fool’s dance.” 

“ Then he’s rather a substantial wisp, aunt, as I 
know to my sorrow.” 

“ So your uncle thought of the one he chased 
through mud and mire, and came home with enough 
of both on his clothes, as Ned, his man, said, to make 
a cabbage garden;” whereat all laughed as Uncle Mal- 
colm’s adventure with the ignis fotuns was a standing 
joke. 

“ Joking aside, I think it was not only foolish but 
stupid for you to go hunting up that fellow, Dick, and 
I suppose you never for a moment thought of the con- 
sequences had you met. For there is no reasonable 
doubt but that he would have killed you or you him, 
and then think of having a murder on your consciences, 
and for what? As I understand carrying off Colonel 
Thornton’s son. That appears to me should have been 
the Colonel’s work.” 

‘‘ But the boys saved my life, aunt.” 

Granted that he did, I think he was only paying 
back what he owed you for rescuing him. Besides 
Carter’s spite was against the Colonel, and you were 
only an incident in the affair anyhow.” 

“ See how your aunt pulls all the glamour of the 
hero off you, Dick.” 

No, I don’t, Malcolm, for I cannot see any heroism 
in it. I see only egotism and love of notoriety in the 
whole thing.” 


Mrs. Blake. 


197 


“ Which I am sure his publisher will use to the ut- 
termost. It’s a good advertisement for your book, 
Dick, and that’s all.” Mrs. Blake fired the last shot 
as she left the room. 

‘‘You must forgive her, Dick, she has taken a dis- 
like to Colonel Thornton, and in fact to all the family. 
She thinks that they have supplanted her in Geraldine’s 
alYections. You know how fond she was of her.” 

“ That is all very well, uncle. I have no love for 
them either, but I can’t see why she should wreak her 
spite on Dick. I am sure he has suffered more by them 
than any one else.” 

“ Hold on, Mollie, if there is any more of this I am 
off again. No one has supplanted aunt with Geraldine 
that I am sure of. You and aunt by your suspicions 
are making Geraldine’s life miserable, and she wishes 
she had never inherited her grandfather’s money, as 
she thinks it is the cause of all the present ill-feeling. 
I expect Daly next week, and if things are not more 
amicable between Geraldine, you and aunt by then. 
I’ll be off with Daly.” 

“ Where is he going, Dick ? ” 

“To Vienna, uncle. Something is brewing there, 
and he is wanted to be on the spot. Daly is a bit of 
a diplomat as well as a correspondent and is often used 
by a high functionary in that way.” 

Aunt Blake had a sharp tongue, but behind its sharp- 
ness and seeming cynicism there was a warm and gen- 
erous heart. Geraldine knew that, and because of it 


198 


Doctor Carrington. 


she felt the more miserable that Aunt Blake should 
think her ungrateful. 

It was a severe winter and among the poor there was 
much suffering. Their cheerfulness and patience un- 
der the most distressing circumstances impressed Miss 
Hamilton, and made her think more lightly of her 
own. Jamie Bamber was her companion on many of 
her visits among them. He would pop up in the most 
out-of-the-way places, often startling her by his sud- 
den appearance and always with the same broad grin 
on his comical face. 

He was always welcome, as his quaint gossip and 
manner of describing things that came under his notice 
amused her and helped to while away part of the 
dreary winter day. Often in the evening she longed 
for .Vunt Blake’s cosy parlor and to hear her Uncle Mal- 
colm dispute points of history. 

Aunt Blake was a well-read woman, although mostly 
self-taught. As a child she was too delicate and ner- 
vous to have regular lessons assigned her, so as she 
grew up she picked up scraps of knowledge here and 
there. But care was taken that nothing but what was 
good came in her way. Beside she had seen consider- 
able of the world. She had lived in India with her 
husband, and after his death, on the Continent, before 
she came to make her home with her brother. 

Her husband had been a brute and had embittered 
her life. The only bit of sunshine she had known 
since a child was her love for Geraldine and her 


Mrs. Blake. 


199 


brother. Her health had never been robust and from 
her youth she was subject to fainting spells, but for 
the past few years they had been less frequent, as her 
brother was careful to have her avoid anything excit- 
ing. 

In her annoyance against Colonel Thornton she let 
her temper get the better of her and said more to the 
doctor than she intended to. Then his threat of going 
away upset her altogether, and that night she had one 
of the most severe attacks she had experienced in years. 
In her conscious moments she called for Geraldine. 
The doctor lost no time in sending for her, and on her 
arrival he took her to his aunt’s room, cautioning her 
on the way to keep calm as his aunt could not stand ex- 
citement. She was asleep, so she stole quietly to the 
bedside and knelt down, and as she did so a flood of 
memories came crowding on her. How often as a 
child when her aunt was ill had she knelt there and 
said her prayers before going to bed, and it required 
all her power of self-control to keep back emotions that 
were choking her. A slight movement caused her to 
look up to meet her aunt’s eyes, reading her thoughts 
as it were. 

Do as she would she could not keep back the tears 
that welled up to her eyes and flowed down her cheeks. 
Mrs. Blake raised her arms and with a sob she nestled 
her head on her bosom murmuring, “ Aunty, aunty, 
how could you think I did not love you above all 
others!” 


200 


Doctor Carrington. 


For the present we will leave them. Suffice to say 
that the excitement did not injure Mrs. Blake. On 
the contrary, it did her good, and she was soon up and 
around again. 

As the winter advanced, the weather became more 
and more severe, and during February there were a 
succession of storms — blinding storms of snow and 
sleet that for the time shut out the dreadful ocean and 
dulled its terrible roar, as in its mad fury it dashed to 
pieces all obstacles that came in its wa}^ There Avere 
many wrecks. Fortunately there Avere but feAV lives 
lost, but there Avas great suffering among the rescued. 

Their hosts, the cottagers, although bordering on 
starvation themselves, Avere ahvays ready to share Avith 
them their last herring or potato.” 

Noav that Miss Hamilton Avas again friends Avith her 
aunt and had her advice and help, she took up her Avork 
among the cottagers Avith a light heart and renewed 
courage. 

Jamie Avas her avant-coiirier, not indeed to announce 
her, but to find out Avhere her visits Avould do the most 
good. If some of the people Avere poor they were also 
proud. They might indeed talk over their Avants Avith 
an equal, but before the quality it looked too much like 
begging. Such cases Jamie found out and Avould an- 
nounce them Avith, 

Noav, Miss Hamilton, there is the Rogans, fient a 
haet they hae in the house, for I knOAV they hae eaten 
all their seed praties, an’ the very same herring is hang- 


Mrs. Blake. 


201 


ing way a nail through its eye in the chimla for the 
last week. It’s jist there for show an’ nothing else, an’ 
I am sure a wee bit o’ tea an’ sugar wad de Biddie 
Logue good. She says that the ‘ wan grace ’ o’ yellow 
meal way the bit turnip in it dinna agree way her any 
mair; an Ned Doherty’s cow hae gan dry an’ na won- 
der, poor thing, she’s had nathing a’ winter but 
pounded whins ; an’ the weans, God help them, are miss- 
ing the drap o’ milk. When I was there this morning, 
Sallie ware stripping her an’ all she got ware jist a cup 
full.” 

Such were a few of Jamie’s discoveides, and he and 
his donkey were kept busy delivering what was need- 
ful, and bringing back hanks of yarn that ready and 
eager fingers were waiting to knit up into socks and 
stockings, thereby earning, if only a trifle. It kept at 
a distance the word “charity,” and Miss Hamilton en- 
couraged them in the same feeling of independence. 

The doctor did not join Daly, but was taking a men- 
tal rest, as he called it, but at the expense of physical 
exertion. He was always foremost among the 
wreckers throwing the life-line or battling with the 
angry surf for a human soul. His voice and actions 
put new courage in the men. The lighthouse-keeper 
and he became fast friends and performed many acts 
of daring in rescuing lives that seemed almost super- 
natural, and their escapes were really miraculous, es- 
pecially one of the doctor’s. 

He was swept from a boat by a huge wave, and 


202 


Doctor Carrington. 


dashed on a rock that rose higher than its fellows out 
of the water. He clung to it for a few moments and 
then dropped into the mad, seething mass below, to be 
taken up by another wave and thrown high upon the 
shore, considerably bruised and battered, but in a day 
ready to begin his work of rescuing again. 

His aunt said there must be some of the blood of 
the old vikings in him, as from his childhood he took 
the greatest delight in watching the ocean when in its 
mad state, and often wondered why he did not become 
a sailor. 


CHAPTER XXVII. 


MACKNAB IN PARIS. 

Daly wrote to say that while he was in Paris he met 
Macknab, and wanting to see a little of the show they 
rode through the Bois de Boulogne. Among the many 
elegant equipages they passed one more conspicuous 
than the others by the gorgeousness of its liveries. 

“ Macknab got a glimpse of the occupants, and it 
seemed to whet his curiosity for another, so we 
wheeled around to pass them again, and it was well 
worth the trouble, for two more beautiful women I 
have never seen, and ^ as much alike as two peas in a 
pod.’ If they had not been blondes, I could almost 
have sworn that one was Madame Zelano, and said so 
to Macknab. He laughed and told me to wait a bit, as 
he saw Boisse and would find out. 

So I sauntered along until he came back. ‘ Well, 
what is the news ? ’ I asked. ‘ Boisse says that they 
are Russian princesses and live in grand style.’ ‘ That 
is quite evident,’ I replied, ‘ but what do you think ? ’ 
I knew well he was keeping something back. It is a 

way he has — and a d tantalizing way it is too — 

just to give you a hint and le!- you surmise the rest. I 

was wild with curiosity, and he was so d aggra- 

203 


204 


Doctor Carrington. 


vating I lost my temper, and called him a fraud and 
said I’d have nothing more to do with him and rode 

off. He called after me not to be so d huffish, as 

he was just as tired of the acquaintance as I was. 

I reached home as mad as a hornet and blessed my 
luck for losing my temper, for I knew well if I wanted 
to find out what I wanted to know. I’d have to apolo- 
gize to the beggar, for he is as stubborn as a mule and 
as proud as Lucifer. 

“ So the next day I wrote an apology and invited 
him to a little dinner at a special cafe where he ordered 
his favorite dishes, and after regaling himself on them 
and Scotch ale, he told me what I had already sus- 
pected, that the two ladies we saw in the Bois were the 
Princess Von Schubert and her sister. Princess Rou- 
coulia, otherwise Mrs. Colonel Thornton, and her sister 
Madame Zelano. 

Boisse has solved that part of the riddle, and there 
is no doubt about his clearing up the rest. He is a 
wonderful man, a walking ‘ Contribution to the Study 
of the Multiplication of Self,’ and can assume at will 
any character he wishes to personate, and so perfect 
are his disguises that his mother (whom he adores), a 
bright, quick-witted, little Scotch woman, a kin of 
Macknab’s, is often deceived. 

‘M don’t know if this bit of news will interest you 
or not. It will, however, stop all conjectures about 
the Colonel’s wife. That she is alive is a certainty and 
enjoying her life to her heart’s content is self-evident.” 


Macknab in Paris. 


205 


It was no surprise to Miss Hamilton to hear that the 
Colonel’s wife was still alive. She felt that it was so 
all along, but to have her thoughts confirmed was a 
great wrench to her feelings, for no matter how she 
battled against it at bottom there was always a grain of 
hope that it might not be so. Now that that hope was 
killed she must arm herself with new courage to bury it 
so deep that it could never assert itself again. Her 
conscience, her faith, told her that it must be so. 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 


DOCTOR LEARY. 

The fever had broken out among the cottagers, add- 
ing to their many other afflictions that were already 
heavy enough. Doctor Carrington was again at their 
beck and call. Night and day he was ready and willing 
to do all in his power to relieve their sufferings. Miss 
Hamilton did not spare herself either, and many a lec- 
ture she received from the doctor for unnecessarily 
exposing herself. She met him one morning as he 
was returning from a unique adventure and an all-night 
visit. 

Ned Doherty, the miller, had became violently de- 
lirious from the fever and had broken away from the 
control of his wife, and was making for the water as 
fast as his legs could carry him when he met the doc- 
tor. 

Then he turned tail and ran up the brae again, lead- 
ing the doctor a dizzy chase o’er hill and dale, finally 
bringing up at the edge of the mill-dam, where he 
quietly stood dressed like Adam, waiting for the doctor 
to come up, and as he did he seized him in his arms and 
jumped into the water with him. 

It would have gone hard with the doctor, as Doherty 
206 


Doctor Leary. 


207 


was a strong, strapping fellow, had not the shock of the 
icy bath restored him to his senses. Both scrambled 
out as quickly as possible and the doctor hurried him 
into the house, had him wrapped in blankets, and put 
into bed, then awaited the result of the bath. 

In the meantime, the good wife made him sit by a 
roaring fire to dry his clothes while she warmed some 
whisky in a skillet over the fire, dropping into it some 
lumps of loaf sugar and a lump of fresh butter, and 
had him drink it piping hot. It warmed him through 
and through, as he was chilled to the bone from his icy 
ducking. 

In speaking of its effects afterwards he said it made 
him feel good and sleepy. It had the same effect on 
Doherty, as he fell into a sound sleep and profuse per- 
spiration. 

In the morning when the doctor left he told the wife 
not to fret as her husband was all right and would be 
around again in a few days. 

Miss Hamilton was shocked at the doctor’s appear- 
ance, and advised him to hurry home, giving him a 
message for Mrs. Blake. 

On reaching home the doctor went to his aunt’s sit- 
ting-room to deliver Geraldine’s message. Not find- 
ing her there he threw himself on a couch, and being 
completely fagged out fell fast asleep. His aunt com- 
ing shortly afterward found him there. Noticing that 
his boots looked wet and muddy, she unlaced them and 
pulled them off. Taking a pair of woolen socks from 


Doctor Carrington. 


2oS 

her mending basket, she warmed them at the fire and 
drew them on his feet. Covering him with a rug and 
arranging the screen so as to shield him from the light, 
she sat down to her mending. 

After a while he became restless, threshing his arms 
about and murmuring in his sleep. His aunt had him 
taken to his room and sent for Doctor Leary, who con- 
firmed her suspicions that he had caught the fever. 
The news that the doctor was ill brought sorrow to 
many hearts, and many were the prayers offered for his 
recovery. 

The Misses Pryor sent Peggie over to inquire for 
him and to know if there was anything they could do. 
Peggie offered her services as a nurse, which were 
gladly accepted until a trained one could be found. 

It was Doctor Leary’s opinion that he was going to 
have a pretty hard tug of it, as he had run down his 
system and had done it most systematically. The doc- 
tor seemed to know that he was going to be ill, for he 
told his aunt that should his mind become deranged 
she was on no account to allow any one in his room but 
herself, his man Ned, and Peggie, as he did not like 
to have the ravings of a disordered brain gossiped 
about. 

Doctor Leary was an old friend of the family and 
an old admirer of Mrs. Blake, as were all the young 
men of the country until Captain Blake, the dashing 
dragoon, came along and cut the ground from under 
them. In India he was her mainstay, when often the 


Doctor Leary. 


209 


captain in some of his mad revels seemed to forget 
that he had a wife. After his death, which he met in 
gallantly leading a charge against the “ Lahore gate,^^ 
he was to her a guardian and protector. And not only 
she but many others owe to him more than their lives, 
their honor. 

There was no sacrifice too great for him to make 
in behalf of the wives and daughters of his fellow offi- 
cers. 

Mrs. Blake and he are writing their reminiscences 
of the Siege of Delhi,” and when they publish them, 
if they ever do, confusion will be brought to many pos- 
sessors of gems and precious stones “ taken in the loot 
after the capture of the city.” 

14 


CHAPTER XXIX. 


THE PRIMROSES. 

The doctor’s mind did wander, and to many corners 
of the earth, but always came back to his home and 
his boyhood days, and it was Jerrie here and Jerrie 
there, now teaching her to ride and how to take a jump, 
again how to swim or defending her against his sis- 
ters. All the deep love in his heart for her so long sup- 
pressed would break forth in a bitter wail. “ O 
Jerrie! Jerrie! you can never know how much I love 
you.” His plaint always drove his aunt from the 
room and made the tears roll down the withered cheeks 
of poor Peggie. The revelation was no surprise to his 
aunt, but it gave her many a heartache and a struggle 
to suppress a feeling of hatred against Geraldine and 
the Thorntons. 

Doctor Leary had summoned a specialist from Lon- 
don, and his old friend. Professor Huston from Dub- 
lin, and they were in consultation when Geraldine 
called at the lodp^e to inquire. She was almost heart- 
broken because they would not let her go to the house. 
The doctors had forbidden it, the fever being typhus 
of a most malignant kind. Her anxiety became un- 
bearable to know the result of the consultation, and 


210 


In the Old Orcliard. 








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The Primroses 


2II 


she started for the house. In crossing the court she 
met Peggie carrying a bag of soiled linen that she 
was going to burn in the laundry. On seeing Miss 
Hamilton she waved her back, calling to her for the 
love of heaven not to come near her. 

She would not be kept back and attempted to follow 
her into the laundry. Peggie was too quick for her 
though, and closed the door in her face, but she told 
her that when she had burned the clothes and changed 
her own she would see her at the sundial in the orchard, 
which was some distance from the house. There Miss 
Hamilton went to wait for her. 

As she slowly walked along through the trees among 
the roots of an old gnarled apple tree, she saw some 
primroses. They were the first she had seen that year 
and she stooped to pick them. She was mechanically 
arranging them in a bunch as Peggie opened the wicket 
and came towards her. 

I waited till the doctor frae London came down, 
Miss Hamilton, an’ he say if he don’t get a sleep afore 
twelve o’clock, he wadna gie sixpence for his life, an 
O, Miss Hamilton! it’ll jist kill his aunt and uncle and 
Miss Mollie, for they are jist fairly wrapped up in him. 
An’ he never speaks o’ any o’ them. His whole cry is 
about you, Miss Hamilton. It is Jerrie here and 
Jerrie there and Jerrie, ye always knew I loved ye. 
That’s his cry frae morning to night way his poor head 
rolling frae side to side and his tongue near wearing 
o’ calling yer name.’' 


212 


Doctor Carrington. 


Miss Hamilton felt as if she was turning into stone 
during Peggie’s recital, and for the first time in her life 
she fainted. Peggie ran to fetch some water, but when 
she got back Geraldine had recovered and was sitting 
on a rustic bench fondling the primroses and kissing 
them. 

Peggie noticed them for the first time and took them 
from Miss Hamilton’s cold fingers, saying that she 
would carry them to him. 

“ Sure they are the breath o’ new life, an’ who 
knows but the smell and look o’ them may do him 
good.” 

She walked back to the lodge-keeper’s with Miss 
Hamilton and then hurried to the sick-room. The 
trained nurse was giving him his medicine when she 
entered. Peggie stood by until she had finished. Then 
she laid the primroses on the bed before him. He 
snatched them up quickly and held them to his face 
and drew a long inspiration as if he wished their per- 
fume to penetrate his very soul. 

When his arm became tired holding them to his face, 
he let it fall on his chest, still holding the primroses in 
his hand. The nurse wanted to take them from him, 
but Peggie and Mrs. Blake said No.” 

After a while he began to pick some of them to 
pieces and tried to moisten them on his poor parched 
tongue, and then paste them on his forehead and eyes. 
Again holding them up to his face and drawing an- 


The Primroses. 


213 

other long inspiration, he turned on his side and fell 
softly asleep, still clutching the primroses in hand. 

The people in the room looked inquiringly at each 
other and were almost afraid to breathe for fear of dis- 
turbing him. Minutes passed into hours and still he 
slept. 

The doctors came in and out on tiptoe, looked at 
him, smiled encouragingly at Mrs. Blake who lay on 
a couch beside the bed so that she could watch him. 
Peggie knelt at the foot of the bed, silently telling her 
beads. The trained nurse dozed in an armchair by the 
door with a watch in her hand. 

Towards morning his aunt became anxious, his 
breathing was so low, and as she stood by his side 
watching him he opened his eyes, smiled at her and then 
dozed off again. 

At daybreak Peggie went into the next room and 
opened a window to get a mouthful of fresh air, and, 
as she did so, she caught a glimpse of Jamie Bamber 
standing by a tree on the lawn, his eyes fastened on the 
windows of the sick-room. Peggie beckoned to him 
and she came down to the hall door and told him to 
run as fast as his legs could carry him to Miss Ham- 
ilton, and tell her the doctor was asleep and had slept 
all night and that it was the primroses that did it. 

His “ cheerful-ugliness,” as the doctor called him, set 
off on a run and met Miss Hamilton on her way to the 
house. She had become so restless she could not stay 
at home. As soon as Jamie saw her, he called out, 


214 


Doctor Carrington. 


“ Miss Hamilton, he’s snorin’ an’ he’s snored a’ night, 
and the primroses did it.” She offered a fervent 
‘‘ Thank God ! ” and returned home, Jamie accompany- 
ing her and giving Peggie’s message a little more 
clearly, lengthening it out where he thought it needed 
it. 

Peggie’s story of the doctor’s ravings had drawn the 
scales from her eyes, and many scenes and incidents 
now remembered, had she only perceived them at the 
time, her life might now be different. 

When the doctor awoke again, he was clothed in his 
right mind and with all his senses. From that time 
forward his improvement, though slow, was steady. 
Peggie insisted that it was the primroses that did it, 
and Mrs. Blake was inclined to think so too. The nurse 
scoffs at the idea. Peggie is a wise woman, however, 
and keeps to herself who it was that picked the prim- 
roses, or why she brought them after Geraldine had 
kissed them. O, no, Peggie keeps all that to herself 
and leaves the rest to Providence. 

At her suggestion Miss Hamilton sends a bunch of 
primroses to the doctor every day, and it is Peggie who 
arranges them in a bowl of water for him. 


CHAPTER XXX. 


THE DEATH OF CARTER. 

During the doctor’s convalescence a letter came 
from Hugh Thornton, who had gone out to India to 
visit his brother, the Colonel, who had been detained 
there longer than he expected, but had then gotten 
things pretty well straightened out and expected to 
leave for home in a short time. They would stop at 
Cape Town to meet Mrs. Thornton, the children, and 
Uncle D’Arcy, who was going to some spa in Germany 
for his gout. 

Father Stanhope wrote frequently. Miss Hamilton 
had made him acquainted with the doctor’s illness. 
But the most prized letters of all were those of young 
D’Arcy Thornton. They were filled with such gen- 
uinely boyish expressions of grief and affection, that 
they always brought tears to Mrs. Blake’s eyes as she 
read them. In her heart she blessed him for them, and 
thanked God that there was one Thornton she could 
like. 

When the doctor was able to leave the house the 
spring was well advanced. Orchards and meadows 
were covered with bloom and the flower garden was 
one mass of blossoms. The trees were brown and 

215 


2i6 


Doctor Carrington. 


bare, and the earth black and dreary when he was taken 
ill. Nature had now taken on a new life and was put- 
ting forth her best energies and seemed to encourage 
him to do likewise. 

The feathered songsters that Peggie had fed 
through the winter came boldly now in flocks and 
perched on the rose trees in the sunny corner where his 
invalid chair stood and sang a merry welcome to him. 
A rivalry sprang up between a blackbird and a thrush 
as to who could sing the loudest and longest. It 
amused him to watch them as they proudly faced each 
other from opposite branches, their little heads thrown 
back and their breasts puffed out as they poured forth 
note after note as if they would burst their little 
throats. 

Geraldine felt rather shy in her first meeting with 
the doctor. It soon wore off, however, in her eager- 
ness to wait on him, and it became a race between Mol- 
lie and she as to who could do the most for him. 

His uncle said he was in a fair way of being candied 
to death by them. He seemed to like it nevertheless, 
and especially to have Geraldine read to him. Mol- 
lie had a raspy voice that grated on his nerves. One 
morning Geraldine was late in coming over and his 
uncle offered to read the paper to him. In glancing 
over the Chronicle for something interesting his eye 
caught the following item : 

“ Most of our readers will remember the chase and 
hunt for a fellow named Carter, who had a record for 


The Death of Carter. 


217 


villainy in more than one continent. One of his many 
acts was the carrying off of Colonel Thornton’s son, 
and selling him to a Zulu chief. He was rescued how- 
ever by our fellow-townsman, Doctor Carrington, who, 
we are happy to say, is recovering from an attack of 
fever brought on by exposure on that occasion. 

It must be a source of consolation to the doctor to 
know that the fellow has at last met his deserts. He 
was shot in the palace of a Russian princess in Paris, 
where he had forced an entrance. There is consider- 
able mystery about the affair which the authorities are 
trying to clear up.” 

During the reading the doctor became so excited 
that he leaned forward in his chair, grasping the arms 
so tightly that the blue veins stood out in ridges on his 
poor wasted hands, and as his uncle finished, he fell 
back exhausted. Mollie gave him cordial and he soon 
recovered himself. 

His first remark was that they had gotten things 
a little mixed. 

“ O, they don’t mind that,” replied his uncle, as 
long as they get their article readable. Anyhow, 
I’m glad that there’s an end to the scoundrel.” 

“ Don’t be so sure of that, uncle, the fellow has as 
many lives as a cat, and besides, we have heard of his 
death so often before. Better wait till we hear from 
Daly.” 

They hadn’t long to wait. The next mail brought 
one which he said was only an apology for not writ- 


2i8 


Doctor Carrington. 


ing sooner, but he had been and was still so occupied, 
and in so many different ways, that he had had scarcely 
time to bless himself. 

There was one bit of news, though he supposed they 
had heard it by this time. Carter was dead. Yes, 
“ dead as a herring.” No shamming this time. Mac 
and he saw him before and after his death. 

He was shot in Madame Zelano’s house and the 
question is, did she do it? He was taken to St. 
Etienne’s Hospital, where he lingered for three weeks. 
The doctors said he suffered no pain, so he had time 
for reflection and became very penitent and died an 
edifying death, thus cheating the devil out of his just 
dues as Mac put it.” 

He had much more news, but it would keep, besides 
there were some things he did not like to trust on paper. 

So cheer up, old chum, and get well soon, for there 
is one bit of news that will surely ‘ warm the cockles 
of your heart.’ ” 

‘‘ W ell, thank God that unfortunate wretch is at 
rest at last. Yes, Dick, and the Lord have mercy on 
him,” said his uncle, and then all began conjecturing 
what other news Daly had in store for them. 

“ Oh, I suppose he’s found a ' mare’s-nest,’ he’s so 
mysterious about it,” said Mrs. Blake. “ He was al- 
ways great for making mountains out of ‘ mole hills ’ ; 
but here comes Geraldine, let us hear what she thinks 
of it.” 

The letter was given to her to read, but what she 


The Death of Carter. 


219 

thought of the intended news she kept to herself. The 
only thought she expressed was that the Lord might re- 
ceive Carter’s soul in mercy. 

Mrs. Blake, with all her sarcasm, was ever thought- 
ful of others, and asked her brother if he thought he 
had not better go over to the lighthouse and see the 
keeper and explain to him Daly’s account of his 
brother’s death. 

“ Yes, do. Uncle Malcolm, I’m sure it will comfort 
him. I met one of the coastguard as I was coming 
over and he told me the man was in sore trouble. He 
had heard from London that his wife had gone off to 
Australia taking his children with her.” 

“ Then joy be with her is what I should say if I was 
the man,” exclaimed Mollie. 

The conversation was here interrupted by the arrival 
of Doctor Leary. Dandy Leary, Mollie calls him ; but 
there is not one bit of the dandy about him. He is 
what Mrs. Blake calls a true gentleman, educated, cul- 
tured, refined, and thoroughly well-bred. His linen 
is always scrupulously clean, so are his manners, and 
so also has been his life. His father left him a com- 
petency, and he inherited a small fortune from a rela- 
tive, making him independent, and thus giving him 
leisure to devote his time to medical science, in which 
he was much helped by his sister, a wonderfully clever 
woman who had won honors and titles from more than 
one college. 

The doctor practised but little, and never accepted 


220 


Doctor Carrington. 


a fee from the poor, and most of what he received 
from the rich found its way to them. 

They lived in a pretty cottage surrounded by flower- 
gardens. The doctor was a great lover of flowers, 
and, summer and winter, he wore one in his button 
hole. That is why Mollie called him a dandy. 

He found Doctor Carrington excited and feverish, 
brought on, no doubt, by the news in Daly’s letter. He 
being an intimate friend of the family was made ac- 
quainted with the contents. He was also a keen ob- 
server of human nature, so read considerable between 
the lines and made mental note of it. 

Peggie is back again with the Misses Pryor, who 
are now comfortably settled. Captain Keyes and Mr. 
Bradley straightened out their affairs and purchased an 
annuity for them, thus placing them out of the reach 
of their unfortunate brother, who has gone to South 
Africa with some neighbors who intend trying their 
hands at the diamond fields. 

Peggie is always a welcome visitor at Mr. Bradley’s, 
where she is respected for her genuine worth and good 
common sense. One day on her way to the ‘‘ big 
house,” as Mr. Bradley’s is called, she met Bettie Orr, 
who asked her if she had heard that Margaret McGer- 
rigal was at Tam Macginley’s. 

Aye, it’s always the same. ‘ Speak o’ the deil an 
he'll show himself. Yonder she is coming out o’ the 
house, an’ the grandeur o’ her way her black silk man- 
tilla an’ a bannet way as many posies on it as wad fill 


The Death of Carter. 


221 


a creel. Ye mind she was married on a Tarry Breeks 
an’ went to England way him an’ ye mind her brither 
wha was transported? Many thought him innocent. 
Well, perhaps he was, anyhow he is back again now, 
an’ him an’ her man keep a public house in Liverpool, 
whare she says the lighthouse-keeper’s wife an’ weans 
stayed way her for a while. 

“ Her sister’s man did something wrang an’ they are 
gane to Australia. Weel, deil gang day about way 
her, says I. She was an ill-willie body an’ wad deave 
ye way her claivers about the grandeur o’ that same 
sister.” 

“ Aye, but she did wrang, Bettie, to take the weans 
away frae their father an’ no tell him about it. A 
winna say na to that though they ware poor feckless 
gowks that wad na say bo to a bum-clock.” 

'‘If ye are going doon the road, a ill jist hirple a 
bit o’ the way way ye. A jist wanted to ask for the 
doctor. A hear he is getting weel o’er his brash o’ 
fever.” 

“Ye are na going my way.” 

“ Weel, then, guide’en. A man gang, for yonder 
comes the cadger an’ a want me tea an sugar forby to 
hear the bit news. Jamie no like some folks. He has 
always something to tell a body.” 

“ Weel, weel, Bettie Orr, may the Lord mend ye 
but yer tongue no scandal. A wonder if ye ever had a 
kind thought in your heart for anybody,” soliloquized 


222 Doctor Carrington. 

Peggie as she stepped briskly along to inquire for the 
doctor. 

News came from Aileen. She wrote in her usual 
impulsive erratic way, beginning by scolding Geraldine 
for not writing to tell her about the doctor’s illness, 
when neither Geraldine nor any of her friends knew 
where she was or where to write to her, for as she said 
herself Roy and she had been kiting around Europe, 
Asia, and the Lord knew where else until they were 
completely fagged out. They were then resting in 
Switzerland where they expected Mrs. Thornton, the 
children, and Uncle D’Arcy, and Andy, of course. 
Colonel Thornton and Hugh would join them later, 
as they had to go to England first. Daly and 
Macknab had spent a day with them, and told them all 
about Carter’s death and the Colonel’s wife, for with 
all her escapades, she is still his wife and the boy’s 
mother, more’s the pity. 

Daly says without exception she is the most beau- 
tiful woman he has ever seen. The question was asked 
can she with all her notoriety and scandalous behavior 
fascinate the Colonel again by her great beauty ? Daly 
says No ” and thinks he will divorce her on account 
of the boy who thinks her dead. Of course he cannot 
marry again while she lives. Roy thinks he will now 
devote himself to the education of his son and culti- 
vation of his estates, as his resignation has at last been 
accepted. 


CHAPTER XXXL 


Geraldine's confession. 

The summer was waning and the doctor had not 
gained the strength his friends expected. He had be- 
come listless and everything wearied him. Mollie said 
he went moping around like a hen who had lost all her 
chicks. 

Doctor Leary told them that he must have a change 
and suggested Madeira. When asked what he thought 
himself, he answered he was perfectly indifferent. 
Anywhere they chose would do, as for himself, he 
would rather stay at home. 

Doctor Leary said that the lethargy he had fallen 
into followed nearly all fevers, and must by all means 
be broken up, and a change of scene was the best thing, 
and as he wanted a little change himself, proposed ac- 
companying them wherever they concluded to go. Ma- 
deira was decided upon. 

Mollie and his aunt were to go with him and his 
uncle and Doctor Leary would follow soon after. 

A few days before their departure, he drove over 
to Glendale. Geraldine was out somewhere, so he sat 
down in one of the big chairs in the hall to wait for her. 
Some logs were singeing in the wide fireplace, and the 

223 


224 


Doctor Carrington. 


old wolf-hound was dozing in his corner. Though 
now nearly blind he knew the doctor and came totter- 
ing over to him. While he was fondling him, Geral- 
dine came in and excused herself, saying she had been 
to see the new colt, and wanted to know if he would 
come and see it too. 

They sauntered down through the orchard to the 
paddock where the colt and its mother were. The doc- 
tor praised all its points and named it Jerria. They 
strolled slowly back by another path that led through a 
spinney of larch and pines, and from where they could 
catch glimpses of the ocean sparkling in the distance. 

The breath of the pines seemed to strengthen him, 
and in a shady nook carpeted with needles, they sat 
down on a fallen trunk to inhale it, and watch an ocean 
steamer as she plowed her way past the headland of 
Dundaff, leaving a long trail of black smoke behind 
that floated up into the clear blue sky, soiling its purity. 
They sat for some time watching the scene and talking 
over the doctor’s intended voyage, Geraldine hoping 
that he would come back strong and well again. 

A weary smile flitted across the doctor’s face. Tak- 
ing a book out of his breast pocket and slowly opening 
it, he showed her some withered primroses, saying that 
he had a strange feeling that when they were bloom- 
ing again he would be sleeping his last sleep. 

“ O, Dick, don’t say that or you will break my 
heart,” and in her excitement she clasped her hands 
on his shoulder. He looked down into her face with a 


Geraldine’s Confession. 


225 


light in his eyes that she had never seen there before, 
and said, catching his breath, “ Jerrie, do you mean 
it?” 

Without hesitating a moment she said “ Yes ” and 
hid her face on her clasped hands. 

He seemed stunned for a while, then gathering his 
wits together he again asked her if she meant it, or 
was it only through pity that she said so? No, she 
meant it, and always meant it, but it was only since 
he was sick that she realized it. 

“ Realized what, Jerrie? ” 

‘‘ That I loved you, Dick.” 

And I have loved you all my life, Jerrie.” 

“ Oh, don’t say that again, Dick ! ” 

“ And why not, dear ? ” 

Because you kept saying it all the time you were 
delirious.” 

“How do you know? You were never in the 
room ? ” 

“ No, they would not let me even into the house. 
But I followed Peggie one day, the day she brought 
you the primroses that she and Aunt Blake say cured 
you, and there she told me how you were all the time 
raving about me. I had gathered the primroses (they 
were the first I had seen) with the intention of asking 
Peggie to take them to you. She perhaps read my 
thoughts, for I had not asked her. She told me after- 
wards though what you had done with them,” and she 
looked up into his face with a bright smile, and told 

15 


226 


Doctor Carrington. 


him Jamie Bamber’s story of his snoring and how he 
had snored all night, and that it was the primroses 
that did it. At which both laughed and returned to 
the house, the doctor seeming to have lost his languor, 
as he stepped briskly along, kicking up the pine needles 
with his feet, and was able to mount the trap without 
Ned’s assistance. 

After the doctor had gone Geraldine began to ask 
herself questions. Had she been sincerely honest with 
him? Did she really love him as she led him to sup- 
pose she did? and last of all, had she been consistent 
with herself? Then pride came to her aid. The doc- 
tor had loved her all his life and she was his first and 
only one, while in the other, were there no obstacles in 
the way, she would have only second place ; besides did 
he love her or was it only her fancy that he did? No 
matter whether it was so or not, knowing now that his 
wife was really alive, to harbor one thought of him 
would be not only dishonorable but sinful. 

The doctor had some misgivings too, for that even- 
ing when he told his aunt in confidence about his visit 
to Geraldine, expressed his fears as to her love for him 
being only pity through compassion for his weakness. 

His aunt told him he was hard to please. Did he 
want the girl to go down on her knees and beg him to 
marry her? Had he been less sensitive and more 
manly, he might have saved himself much self-torture 
and Geraldine humiliation by telling her before she 
went to South Africa what he had told her to-day. 


Geraldine’s Confession. 227 

As to Geraldine’s fancy for the Colonel she believed 
it to be only a passing emotion. The girl had seen but 
little of worldly life here and less in Africa, and he was 
an event in her life. While she knew little or nothing 
of psychology she did believe that one soul could domi- 
nate another by the power of the intellect or stronger 
activity of the will. Had Geraldine been subjected to 
any such influence she is of too healthy morals to sub- 
mit to it long, particularly now knowing that the man’s 
wife is alive, so he had better disabuse his mind of all 
such fancies, and cease to be a seek-sorrow, and strive 
to get well and strong, and to 


Accept God’s gifts with resignation, 
Content to lack what he has not, 

For in every lot there’s consolation. 

And there’s trouble, too, in every lot.” 


Some facts leaked out during the investigation fol- 
lowing the shooting of Carter that made further resi- 
dence of the Russian princess in Paris, to say the least, 
unpleasant. So one fine morning found their palace 
to let. 

Their departure did not disturb Boisse, Macknab’s 
friend, who had traced their career from the time of 
their birth until the present time. 

After much gleaning and sifting this is what he told 
Macknab : 

They were born in Buda Pesth. Their father was a 
Hungarian noble, their mother a Pole, and the most 


228 


Doctor Carrington. 


beautiful woman of her day. The father lost caste by 
marrying her because she was an actress, and shortly 
after their birth was killed in a duel with a Russian 
prince, the supposed lover of his wife. Then the 
mother retired to a castle belonging to the prince in 
Galicia, and her home there became a rendezvous for 
artists and philosophers of all sorts, and among such a 
motley crew the girls grew up. Among the crowd 
who frequented the house was a young man, a clever 
musician, who taught the ’girls to sing. 

A plot to assassinate the governor of the province 
was disclosed, and as her house had been under surveil- 
lance for some time she and most of the other inmates 
were arrested and condemned to Siberia. She how- 
ver died from brutal treatment before reaching her des- 
tination. The girls escaped with the musician, who 
passed as their brother, and, under his direction, they 
studied for the stage, and made their debut in Vienna 
and took the city by storm by their great beauty and 
singing. 

After one or two seasons the younger sister, whose 
lungs had never been strong, was obliged to retire from 
public life. It was about that time that Colonel Thorn- 
ton met and fell a victim to the other’s beauty and 
talent. Their marriage was not a success, as was to 
be expected. She soon tired of the humdrum of a 
country life and left him to return to the stage (and 
her brother, by the way). They starred Europe, sing- 
ing in Saint Petersburg, Vienna and Paris, but never 


Geraldine’s Confession. 229 

in London. That was one of the conditions of the 
agreement with the Colonel. 

While entertaining some of their friends during their 
stay in Saint Petersburg, their house was forcibly en- 
tered, and they were arrested as nihilists and exiled to 
Siberia. He was sent down in the copper mines and 
she as a servant in the home of the governor, who 
proved to be no other than her mother’s old friend, 
Prince Novogord. He was away from home at the 
time making an inspection of the province, as he had 
but lately been appointed. 

On his return she made herself known to him and 
he readily recognized her by her great likeness to her 
mother. He was very gentle and kind to her and had 
the man she told him was her husband taken out of the 
mines, and gave them a hut on the outskirts of the 
town. He would liked to have done more for them, 
but he was not quite his own master. He was thought 
to be too humane and a clique was formed against him, 
so he had to be continually on his guard. He, how- 
ever, formed a scheme for her escape, but she would 
not leave the poor fellow, her companion, who was dy- 
ing from the effect of the terrible mine, and the brutal 
treatment he received there, and who welcomed death 
as a relief from his sufferings. 

The night he died she dressed him in her clothes and 
herself in his, then walked to the end of the street 
where she met an inspector. Both entered a carriage 
that was some way off and drove to the station, where 


230 


Doctor Carrington. 


she was put in charge of a guard, who conducted her 
safely to Saint Petersburg, where she was received and 
kindly treated by friends of the Prince. They also 
interceded for her at court and got her an audience 
with the Emperor in which she pleaded her cause so 
well and proved her innocence so conclusively, that he 
not only pardoned her, but granted her a pension on ac- 
count of her having lost her voice by the rigors of the 
dreadful winter in Siberia. 

Prince Novogord, having no family of his own, and 
having also good reasons to believe that the twin sisters 
were of his blood, gave them a princely allowance. 

After the death of Carter and the investigation that 
followed, they were warned to live more quietly, other- 
wise their income would be discontinued. They have 
taken the hint and are at present living quietly in 
Florence, where they intend making their home for 
the future. 

Daly and Macknab strongly advised the doctor to 
go to Algiers, as they thought the climate would suit 
him better, besides his environments would be more 
congenial. Doctor Leary came to their way of think- 
ing, Mollie said because he had an ax to grind — he 
would there be nearer to some old cronies at Malta. 
So to Algiers they were to go. 

The doctor asked Geraldine what he would send her. 
Nothing, she said, all she wished for was for him to 
get well and strong before the primroses bloomed 
again. 


Geraldine's Confession. 


231 


And if I do, what will you then give me? 

Wait and see — perhaps a bunch of them.” 

Would that mean another new life for me, 
Jerrie? ” 

Dick, you are entirely too inquisitive. You want 
to know too much.” 

“ Oh, Jerrie, if you only knew what a certain answer 
would do for me, you would be a little more charitable. 
It is said that charity covers a multitude of sins.” 

Have you been very wicked, Dick? ” 

I have not been a saint, Jerrie, but come now, 
what’s the use of all this hedging? Can’t you say 
‘yes’ or ‘no’?” 

She got up and walked to the window, looked out 
for a moment or two, came back and stood in front of 
him, and said deliberately, “ Yes, Dick, and you could 
have had the same answer long ago had you asked for 
it as persistingly then.” 

His reply is not translatable. Suffice it to say that 
he started on his voyage for health with every prospect 
of gaining it. Geraldine did not feel that she had de- 
meaned herself in saying “ yes ” to the doctor. That 
she did not love him with all the passion and fervor 
that poets write about was true, but she did honor and 
esteem him above all others. Besides it would please 
and gratify those who were near and dear to her, for 
what would have become of her had not Aunt Blake 
and Uncle Malcolm taken her to themselves? 


CHAPTER XXXII. 


CONCLUSION. 

Mrs. Thornton, Mr. D’Arcy and the children were 
with Aileen when the news of Geraldine’s engagement 
came. All were much pleased, although at one time 
Mrs. Thornton hoped that it might have been other- 
wise and wondered what the Colonel thought. Had 
she but known it, it gave him a big wrench and for a 
while he felt envious of the doctor. He was now free 
from his wife, having got a legal separation, but not 
free to marry again while she lived. 

His son now claimed all his attention, and a more 
lovable, manly young lad would be hard to find. His 
lawyers had advised him, as the boy was now reaching 
manhood, to tell him about his mother. Better for 
him to learn about it from his father than have it 
sprung on him by a stranger. The more he thought 
the thing over, the more difficult he found a place to 
begin. 

He was then at Studley, and had for guests the 
rector, an old classmate of his, and Father Stanhope. 
One afternoon as they were smoking in the library the 
lad came in with a letter that had been forwarded from 
the school for him. It was from Doctor Carrington, 
232 


Conclusion. 


233 

telling him of his returning health and his engagement 
to Geraldine. 

After reading it aloud to them, he turned to his 
father and asked him why he did not marry Cousin 
Geraldine ; the doctor was all right, but he wanted her 
for his mama. There was a painful silence for a 
moment or so, then a laugh, a little bitter, from his 
father, who said Geraldine would not have him, and 
she had done a more wise thing in promising to marry 
Doctor Carrington. 

That evening he took the boy to his room and told 
him the story of his mother, softening and excusing 
much on account of her sufferings and bringing up. 
Then he showed him a photograph of her that Daly 
had sent him. The boy looked at it for a long time, 
then said she was very beautiful, but that he never 
wanted to see her, and found it hard to forgive her for 
deserting Maurice and he when only infants and leav- 
ing them to the care of strangers. His father winced 
under the last remark, for did not he also desert them ? 

The Colonel was urged to enter Parliament. A seat 
was found for him and he was elected and became a 
great favorite, being a ready speaker and a good de- 
bater. He also became the center of a little coterie of 
brilliant, intellectual men of high moral principles. 

Mrs. Thornton wanted to stay in England on ac- 
count of the education of her children. So Mr. 
D’Arcy Fitzgerald bought a house for her in London 
where, during the sittings of Parliament, the Colonel 


234 


Doctor Carrington. 


made his home, with the understanding that Studley 
was to be their residence for the rest of the season, 
thus giving the Colonel a real home for himself and 
son. 

Hugh Thornton was to make occasional trips to 
South Africa to look after their interests at Kimber- 
ley, where Will Casserly had married a colonial girl 
and settled down as a resident partner. 

A large mission school has been established in Mr. 
D’Arcy Fitzgerald’s former home in Basutoland and 
great hopes are entertained of the ultimate conversion 
of the natives. 

Tommy Dodd told Andy that he would like to study 
for a missionary. 

‘'You a missionary, ye imp of Satan! It’s setting 
them all by the lugs you would be, and when ye had 
them killing ane another, you’d jist lie doon on yer 
back in the sun an’ enjoy the fun o’ it. No, no. Tommy, 
stay where ye are and attend to Miss Dodo and a’m 
thinking ye’ll find that mission enough for ye.” 

Jamie Bamber was the first to announce Miss Ham- 
ilton’s engagement in the village. He told Peggie he 
had heard it up at the big house, “ an’ he’d jist been 
to Toal Gallagher’s forge. Toal was shoeing a horse 
an’ sweating like a brock, so he just put his head in the 
door and said, ‘ Toal, Peggie says the primroses did 
it.’ ” 

“Did what, ye haverel?” 

“ Why, gard Miss Hamilton marry the doctor.” 


"riu‘ Hall Fire. 








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235 


Then may the Lord bless them! said Toal, wip- 
ing a handful of sweat from his face. “ As soon as 
a’m finished a’ll jist run doon to Jonie Maxwell’s and 
drink their healths.” 

The doctor returned well and strong, as his friends 
hoped he would. All his taciturnity had disappeared 
and he was as merry and light-hearted as a boy. 

His aunt laughingly said, Richard was himself 
again,” and indeed he was, and none was more pleased 
at the change than Geraldine. All her girlish confi- 
dence in him was renewed and they became not only 
friends but good comrades. 

Their marriage was a happy one and gave pleasure 
to all their friends. Mr. Fitzgerald, and, of course, 
Andy, spent some weeks with them every summer. 
Their first visit was a bitter disappointment; the 
glamour that had hung o’er the scenes of their youth 
had disappeared. 

“ Old times had changed 
Old manners gone." 

Even the people seemed changed. The only thing 
that remained the same was the rockbound coast with 
the ever-changing ocean dashing against it. 

Andy took a fancy to Jamie Bamber, who never 
wearied of Andy’s tales of adventures in Africa, and 
of its animals, its people, and their habits and customs. 

Aye, but it man be a gie uncanny country to live 
in,” thought Jamie, who took every word Andy said as 
gospel truth. 


236 


Doctor Carrington. 


After much consulting with Mr. Bradley, Andy 
made his will, leaving most of his fortune, which was 
not small, to found an orphanage and school in his 
native parish. Mr. Bradley, Captain Keyes and Doc- 
tor Carrington were to see that his intentions were car- 
ried out. Jamie was not forgotten. 

Some time after their marriage the doctor and his 
wife were in London during a debate in Parliament 
on some Indian affair. Colonel Thornton, who was at 
home on the question, was to speak, so they went to 
hear him. He had his subject well in hand and spoke 
eloquently; his words were not only well chosen, but 
elegant and forcible. 

“ Fit words attended on his weighty sense, 

And mild persuasion flowed in eloquence.” 

His appearance had somewhat changed, the care- 
worn look was gone from his face and one of calmness 
and dignity had taken its place. 

They dined at Mrs. Thornton’s that evening, and 
met many old friends and acquaintances there. Aileen 
and Caxton, Daly, Macknab and many others were 
there. The Colonel took Geraldine in to dinner and 
seemed much pleased at her praise of his eloquence. 
He talked pleasantly to her mostly about his boy and 
promised to let him spend his vacation with her, pro- 
vided the father went also. She laughingly said the 
more the merrier, and promised him a real ‘‘ Cead Mille 
Failthe.” 


Conclusion. 


237 


So the next summer found the whole clamjamfrey 
in Glendale. Tommy Dodd had taught Dodo to ride 
bareback and she was the terror of the village children, 
who ran and hid their faces in their mother’s skirts as 
she came tearing down the village street with her 
blackamore at her heels. Cousin D’Arcy was the only 
one who could make her mind her p’s and q’s. Andy 
said it might be a match when they grew up if they 
were “ no so sib.” But cousins have married before, 
and the colonel has great hopes of the future. 



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